Every teenage girl wants to be sexy, wants to be noticed, to be attractive. But what is "sexy," really? Do you know what you're saying about yourself by the way you dress? Popular author Hayley DiMarco wants to help you figure it out.
Sexy Girls is an honest and provocative look at everything sexy--from clothes and self-presentation to body image. With her approachable style and wit, Hayley shows:
- Why little things called hormones affect the way guys look at girls
- What girls are really saying by the way they dress
- What God thinks about teens trying to be sexy
With quizzes, sidebars, and questions for reflection,
Sexy Girls is the perfect opportunity for you to figure out who you are and how you are going to present that image to your peers.
Are you wondering why worldly guys act interested in you, but the really godly guys don't? Is your daughter struggling over how to fit in with her friends while not making you and her dad go ballistic? Are you looking for material to help the girls in your youth group understand their responsibility to the guys around them when it comes to clothing? Hayley DiMarco's Sexy Girls may be just what you need.
Don't let the cover turn you off. It's a sexy girl in a halter (at least I think it's still called a halter) top and low-cut jeans with lots of skin showing. DiMarco's take on the issues of modesty and our feminine responsibility to God and the men around are much overdue.
DiMarco's goal is to "help you figure out your image--who you are, who you want to be, and who you want others to thing you are." (13) To do that, she starts with what seeing lots of female skin does to guys, even icky guys, even old guys. She recommends humility over self-esteem and developing character by losing weight through exercise and diet rather than liposuction. She tries to get girls to understand the dangers of alcohol and of bad friends based on the Bible. She then encourages them with ideas for forming a fashionable affordable wardrobe.
DiMarco writes in a frank, hip, conversational style that should appeal to young readers, but she doesn't play fast and loose with the Scripture. She includes quotations, startling statistics on alcohol, liposuction, and male vs. female items in bathrooms. She also provides letters from young readers and her answers. Certain sections of the book provide working areas for the readers to respond to her questions. DiMarco, the author of Mean Girls and Dateable and the founder of a think tank called Hungry Planet, seeks "to give practical answers for life's problems and encourage girls to form stronger spiritual lives." (141)
Her approach to the problem of immodesty impressed me. I disagreed with only one small section of what she wrote. "Modesty is about looking normal. Not drawing tons of attention to yourself so that you shock people or cause them to stumble." (117) She spends the majority of the book letting girls know about the importance of not showing too much skin. Yet in some settings, such as on a beach, "looking normal" could mean showing lots of skin. This statement weakened her argument in my mind.
Would I recommend Sexy Girls to young women? Oh, yes, I already have some in mind! – Debbie W. Wilson, Christian Book Previews.com
Average Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars(4.5 out of 5 stars)
5 of 5 Reviews Showing:
5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Nancy Hartley (Cicero, IN), December 03, 2008
I was very impressed with the content of this book. I think every young teen girl should read it to get a better understanding of the male perspective on how girls present themselves. It doesn't preach about what a girl should do, just makes them aware of how boys and men view things.
4.5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by James & Denice (Boerne, TX), September 27, 2008
Our daughter read it in 1 day. It helped her notice things she hadn't before.
3.5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Jennifer (Indianapolis), July 03, 2008
I ordered this for my 12 year old daughter and I to go over together. She was being highly influenced by some friends I'm trying to steer her away from. I needed something to help as a guide to assist me in what I was already telling her, and by reading this together, she is really absorbing and taking the material to heart.
Although the content is good, the cover and title could have been totally different. I'm embarrassed by the cover and title.
I just about died when my daughter, who I've changed her daycare situation, (I do not feel she should be left home alone when we work all day), and this is a conservative christian home-as we have, she just blurted out 'my mom reads to me 'sexy girls'' and she said the room became silent and she explained what we do and how we go about it, and they were ok....(it's ok to breathe now-after the initial shock of hearing the title).
We read the book together and we have a Pedagogy (Greek- meaning to teach the young, although she doesn't know this, it is a neat sounding meeting time between her and me) Meeting and it is really helping. She asked me the other day, 'how is my image?' and 'are these capris ok--the length?' and she mentioned she thinks she should dress more in layers vs having a shirt that will creep up when she raises her hand above her head...so it is working!!!
5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Liz (Conway, Arkansas), August 31, 2007
I love love love this book! I got it at Christian Book Outlet and read it that night and it really opened my eyes to how a girl dresses shows who she is...I had no idea that guys thought some of those things about girls who show what they have! I loved it so much that I kept telling my two best friends how good it was, so one night when they stayed at my house we started reading it together and discussing it...it was so amazing!!
5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Candace M (Wellington, FL), August 28, 2007
While I didn't personally read more than excerpts from book, I didn't need to read the whole thing. My 14-year-old daughter, whom I bribe to read, hungrily read the book and asked for more by DiMarco. I did notice a slight but welcome change in her dress, and she finally stopped asking for a belly ring.
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