The Triple Bind: Saving Our Teenage Girls from Today's Pressures and Conflicting Expectations

By Stephen P. Hinshaw and Rachel Kranz

Book Overview

The Triple Bind that girls face today:
- Act sweet and nice
- Be a star athlete and get straight A's
- Seem sexy and hot even if you're not

In many ways, today is the best time in history to be a girl: Opportunities for a girl's success are as unlimited as her dreams. Yet societal expectations, cultural trends, and conflicting messages are creating what psychologist and researcher Stephen Hinshaw calls "the Triple Bind." Girls are now expected to excel at "girl skills," achieve "boy goals," and be models of female perfection, 100 percent of the time. Here, Dr. Hinshaw reveals key aspects of the Triple Bind, including

- genes, hormones, and the role of biology in confronting the Triple Bind
- overscheduled lives and how the high pressure to excel at everything sets girls up for crisis
- how traditionally feminine qualities (such as empathy and self-awareness) can put girls at risk for anxiety, depression, and other disorders
- the oversexualization of little girls, preteens, and teenagers
- the reasons girls are channeling pressure into violence

Combining moving personal stories with extensive research, Dr. Hinshaw provides tools for parents who want to empower their daughters to deal in healthy ways with today's pressures.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345504003
• ISBN13: 9780345504005
• Release Date: December 2009
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Fascinating and Informative

I expected this book to be alarmist and possibly patronizing, but was impressed by the quality of the research and the strength of the author's arguments. Hinshaw convincingly shows that modern expectations or perceptions of women have changed since even a decade ago, and demonstrates how dangerous these new expectations and perceptions can be. His central argument is that today's young women are pressured to be good at 'girl stuff' like empathy, relationships, etc. while being good at 'boy stuff' like winning, being aggressive/athletic, etc. AND being thin, pretty, and available. Not only that, but girls are supposed to make all this look effortless. (Boys are supposed to DO. Girls are supposed to BE.) Whether or not you personally feel this to be the case, Hinshaw's dissection of books, movies, and TV shows (from "Wicked," "Uglies," and "The It Girl" to "Grey's Anatomy," "Enchanted" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer") were particularly interesting and insightful. Teenage girls themselves might find this book helpful, but I would recommend it to any woman interested in the subject, as well as parents.

Right on target

Too many conflicting messages for young women. Absolutely. A lot of societies expect young women to carry their water. It is nonsense. Dr. Hinshaw's book is right on the money.

The Triple Bind

The book is very informative. It really shines a light on the stress teen's face. I recommend to any student having to deal with the pressures of extra curricular activities, homework, class work, etc.