Girls and Sex

Girls and Sex: Navigating the Complicated New Landscape by Peggy Orenstein.  236 pages (before notes)

"With casual hookups and campus rape relentlessly in the news, parents can be forgiven for feeling anxious about their young daughters. They’re also fearful about opening up a dialog. Not Orenstein. A contributing writer to the New York Times Magazine and the New York Times best-selling author of books like Cinderella Ate My Daughter, Orenstein spoke to psychologists, academics, and other experts in the field and yes, 70 young women, to offer an in-depth picture of “girls and sex” today."

I don't usually just take the summary of a book from Goodreads, but I figured that for this book, it made the most sense.    I had been reading a lot about this book, and then heard the author on a Slate podcast, so I was curious about what this book would be like.   I found it a combination of things: fascinating, scary, a bit depressing . . . and seriously, I think it should be required reading for a lot of parents.   Strike that; even if you don't have a daughter, read this book.  It was really interesting to read what some of the girls that Orenstein interviewed had to say, and there were a bunch of things that I found surprising (and sad).

This made for an interesting read, but I think the most powerful thing about the book is that it creates an opportunity for some dialogue, and hopefully, some determination towards making some positive changes.

Last Chain On Billie

Last Chain on Billie: How One Extraordinary Elephant Escaped the Big Top by Carol Bradley
320 Pages

Summary

"Against the backdrop of a glittering but brutal circus world, Carol Bradley's Last Chain on Billie charts the history of elephants in America, the inspiring story of the Elephant Sanctuary and the spellbinding tale of a resilient elephant who defied the system even as she struggled to conquer her past, who never lost sight of the life she was meant to have. Left in the wild, Billie the elephant would have spent her days surrounded by family, free to wander the jungles of Asia. Instead, traders captured her as a baby and shipped her to America, where she learned to carry humans, stand on a tub and balance on one leg - the full repertoire of elephant tricks. For decades, Billie crisscrossed the country, dazzling audiences as she performed breathtaking stunts. But behind the scenes she lived a life of misery: traveling in trucks, chained for hours on end, barely able to move, giving eight-minute performances under harsh lights and to the sounds of blaring music. And worse. Finally, she got a lucky break. As part of the largest elephant rescue in American history, Billie wound up at a sanctuary for performing elephants in Tennessee, able once more to roam through open meadows and share her days with a herd. She would never be beaten again. But, overcome with anxiety, she withdrew from the rest of the elephants and refused to let anyone remove a chain still clamped around her leg. Her caregivers began to wonder if Billie could ever escape her emotional wounds. The compelling story of Billie's battle to reclaim her old self is a testament to the intelligence, emotional complexity and remarkable strength of all elephants, captive or free."

The book is less about Billie and more about all elephants in captivity both in circuses and in zoos.  Each chapter tells the story of Billie followed by a section recounting the history of elephants in America and in circuses.  The book was actually hard to read at times because of the sheer cruelty places upon elephants which studies have shown to have complex and long-reaching family structures.