I Am an Emotional Creature : The Secret Life of Girls Around the World

From Starred Review Written in the same format as her watershed work, The Vagina Monologues (1998), Ensler’s latest mélange of dramatic voices continues the mission of her philanthropic organization, V-Day, to stop violence against women. Published for adults but aimed straight at young adults, this volume provides a searing look at the inner lives of young females today in entries that explore sex, violence, love, body image, materialism, identity, family, friends, and the future. “You Tell Me How to Be a Girl in 2010” begins the collection with a furious catalog of the state of a girl’s world, from global war to everyday heartbreak: “Girls younger than me are giving blowjobs / in homeroom / and they don’t even know it’s sex.” The sobering international voices include child soldiers, young sex slaves, girls whose boyfriends hit them, and girls who starve and cut themselves. Other girls speak of honesty, tenderness, freedom, accomplishment, self-love, and defiance: “My short skirt / is not an invitation / a provocation / an indication / that I want it / or give it / or that I hook. . . . My short skirt is happiness. / I can feel myself on the ground. I am here. And I am hot.” With moving forewords by Carol Gilligan and Ensler, this powerful title, interspersed with shocking “Girl Facts,” serves as a potent call to girls to honor their emotions and to readers of all ages to uphold human rights at every level, from the boardroom to the bedroom. --Gillian Engberg Review "When I encounter 'teenage girl' stories, whether in novel, play, or film form, I tend to change the channel. Participating in pop culture’s clichéd teen experience is like recalling “simpler times.” It is remembering a past we can never get back, because it never existed. I can’t think of a time when my life was less defined—popularity was a murky concept, rules were rubber, and perfection was always just out of reach. Leave it to Eve Ensler to get it right. Her new book, I Am an Emotional Creature , made me want to vomit from its emotional power. Ensler does not coddle the reader; instead she forces us to realize that teenage girls possess the largest untapped energy source in the world. Written in a similar format as her groundbreaking 1996 feminist theatrical work, The Vagina Monologues , I Am an Emotional Creature is a disjointed roller coaster of poems, fictional monologues, and scenes inspired by real girls around the world. Much like a quilt, the seams—the disparity between each piece—draw them closer together, even when the girls the stories describe live on opposite sides of the globe. Ensler’s world is a place where one high-school girl is tortured for her Ugg boots and another is mutilated for having a vagina, and she manages to tell both sides with equal degrees of honesty, courage, and heartache. Ultimately about all girls, this is a tale about dreams, nightmares, realities, boyfriends, fathers, body image, sports, friendship, popularity, mothers, piercings, and poetry. It’s the God’s honest truth, as my mother would say".—_Bust Magazine “A searing look at the inner lives of young females today in entries that explore sex, violence, love, body image, materialism, identity, family, friends, and the future…A potent call to girls to honor their emotions and to readers of all ages to uphold human rights at every level, from the boardroom to the bedroom”— Booklist _ "These are sorrowful voices, and the waste is everywhere: waste of beauty, talent, grace. Sometimes their powerful exuberance rises up and you believe they have a shot at happiness."—_Los Angeles Times _" I Am an Emotional Creature " is thoughtful and provocative. Its unbiased acceptance of girls of all types is comforting and inspiring...Parents often lament about the drama and stress of raising a daughter. If they read Ensler's book, it might open up a discussion of the realities of generation Y."—The Associated Press Biography & Autobiography,General,Social Science,Psychology,Drama,Social life and customs,Girls,Women's Studies,Social conditions,21st Century,Gender Studies Playwright Eve Ensler Writes Fictional Monologues And Stories Inspired By Girls Around The Globe. Moving Through A World Of Topics And Emotions, These Voices Are Fierce, Alive, Tender, Complicated, Imaginative, And Smart. Girls Today Often Find Themselves In A Struggle Between Remaining Strong And True To Themselves And Conforming To Society's Expectations In An Attempt To Please. They Are Taught Not To Be Too Intense, Too Passionate, Too Smart, Too Caring, Too Open. They Are Encouraged To Shut Down Their Instincts, Their Outrage, Their Desires And Their Dreams, To Be Polite, To Obey The Rules. This Book Is A Celebration Of The Authentic Voice Inside Every Girl And An Inspiring Call To Action For Girls Everywhere To Speak Up, Follow Their Dreams, And Become The Women They Were Always Meant To Be.--from Publisher Description. You Tell Me How To Be A Girl In 2010 -- Let Me In -- What Don't You Like About Being A Girl? -- Bad Boys -- What I Wish I Could Say To My Mother -- It's Not A Baby, It's A Maybe -- What's A Good Girl? -- Don't -- Would You Rather (i) -- Stephanied -- Moving Toward The Hoop -- Sophie Et Apolline, Or Why French Girls Smoke -- Things I Heard About Sex -- I Dance (i) -- I Build It With Stone -- Hunger Blog -- The Joke About My Nose -- Would You Rather (ii) -- Dear Rihanna -- I Have 35 Minutes Before He Comes Looking For Me -- Free Barbie -- Sky Sky Sky -- The Wall -- A Teenage Girl's Guide To Surviving Sex Slavery -- I Dance (ii) -- Refuser -- What Do You Like About Being A Girl? -- Asking The Question -- Would You Rather (iii) -- Things I Like About My Body -- My Short Skirt -- Things That Give Us Pleasure -- Five Cows And A Calf -- I Am An Emotional Creature -- I Dance (iii). Eve Ensler. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 147-148). In this daring, provocative, and insightful book, bestselling author and internationally acclaimed playwright Eve Ensler writes fictional monologues and stories inspired by girls around the globe. Moving through a world of topics and emotions, these voices are fierce, alive, tender, complicated, imaginative, and smart. Girls today often find themselves in a struggle between remaining strong and true to themselves and conforming to societys expectations in an attempt to please. They are taught not to be too intense, too passionate, too smart, too caring, too open. They are encouraged to shut down their instincts, their outrage, their desires and their dreams, to be polite, to obey the rules. I Am an Emotional Creature is a celebration of the authentic voice inside every girl and an inspiring call to action for girls everywhere to speak up, follow their dreams, and become the women they were always meant to be. Among the girls Ensler creates are an American who struggles with peer pressure in a suburban high school; an anorexic blogging as she eats less and less; a Masai girl from Kenya unwilling to endure female genital mutilation; a Bulgarian sex slave, no more than fifteen, a Chinese factory worker making Barbies; an Iranian student who is tricked into a nose job; a pregnant girl trying to decide if she should keep her baby. Through rants, poetry, questions, and facts, we come to understand the universality of girls their resiliency, their wildness, their pain, their fears, their secrets, and their triumphs. I Am an Emotional Creature is a call, a reckoning, an education, an act of empowerment for girls, and an illumination for parents and for us all. In this daring book, internationally acclaimed author and playwright Eve Ensler offers fictional monologues and stories inspired by girls around the globe. Fierce, tender, and smart, I Am an Emotional Creature is a celebration of the authentic voice inside every girl and an inspiring call to action for girls everywhere to speak up, follow their dreams, and become the women they were always meant to be. This paperback edition features new material about starting a discussion group based on the book.