The Difference: Growing Up Female in America

Judy Mann does a great job of stringing child psychologist's opinions and numerous scientific studies to provoke thought in the reader. She makes it clear that she did not start research of this book with a bias one way or the other and it is quite obvious when she discusses her observance of her daughter being her reason for writing this book, contrary to what many other reviewers claim. It is not a common occurence to find a general audience book that is so backed by scientific evidence. She discusses controversial issues, such as the evidence that sex segregated could benefit young girls (and boys for that matter). The concept of sex segregrated schools died with the feminist movement of the 70s, as did anything sex segregrated. When considering this, the claims that she is spreading feminist propaganda is utterly ridiculous. She throws traditional feminist ideas out the window when they need to be, when the scientific data suggests otherwise. Additional topics include girl's lack of interest in science and math (something I find true, being one of few girls in my college with a physics major), methods we can infiltrate that would benefit girls and their learning styles, how blurring gender lines completely can be detrimental to a child's indentity, she gives an account of a day in the life of a Madeira School student, and scientific data that gives evidence that girls are overlooked in the classroom. Reading this book is a service to your children, for they will surely benefit from a parent that is aware of their childhood issues and their education system, and its downfalls. Mann does not beg the reader to agree with her, she puts forth the information; whether you agree or not is up to you. PS. The reason I was compelled to write this review was due to the incorrect information that other reviewers have written, reviewers that wrote both positive and negative reviews. It seems that some people have jumped on reviewing this book without even reading it, probably because of much of it hits on controversial issues. If you haven't read the book, didn't feel that you understood the book, only flipped through the book, or assume the author's opinion on things not even discussed in the book, such as abortion, DON'T WRITE A REVIEW. You are influencing people that could actually learn something from it.

The author, Judy Mann, has daughters of her own, and as they came to her with problems in their own lives, the author realized that she could not protect them from gender bias and sexism. So she set about to explore the difference. The book makes some sweeping statements, some of which seem challenging and controversial, but all the time she keeps things in persepctive, continues to tie the reader back in with the experiences of her own children. I can't say I agree with all of her suggestions, but I respect her for writing this amazing book.

Judy Mann writes from a feminist perspective, but this book is not "propaganda"--and her views about raising girls in America build on the research of many other responsible scholars. I assigned it for a class & every student (including those who declared themselves emphatically "not a feminist") found it thought provoking and worth reading.

One would be unable to find an author who does not reflect any bias in thier writing. It is important that this book is not disregarded as invalid because the author has convictions. Infact, her feminist bias and insightful critiques ought be acknowledged to be as legitimate as biases reflecting the status quo.