“What are you afraid will happen if you stand up for something you believe in?”
Brave Girls: Raising Young Women with Passion and Purpose to Become Powerful Leaders by Stacey Radin, PsyD & Leslie Goldman, asks this question. Why are girls afraid of being powerful? Why is the word “feminist” a dirty word? Through her description of a program called Unleashed, in which middle school girls work as animal rights activists to help and protect dogs, the concepts of power and feminism are broken down. And by the end, these are no longer bad words.
A passionate feminist herself, author Stacey Radin fought her entire life to prove herself and to be seen beyond the lowered expectations placed upon her because she was a girl. From being chastised for punching back because “girls don’t punch”, to being told she was “smarter than she looked”, Stacey often found herself frustrated at girls’ and women’s lack of power. It was this drive that molded her into what she self-describes as “headstrong and feisty, challenging and very independent”—characteristics many find unbecoming of women and girls, but characteristics that are crucial if they want to be leaders. Continue Reading
