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IntrovertedBear

Introverted Bear

Tracking the books I've read.

Currently reading

Atlas Shrugged: (Centennial Edition)
Ayn Rand

Women and Self-Esteem: Understanding and Improving the Way We Think and Feel about Ourselves

Women and Self-Esteem: Understanding and Improving the Way We Think and Feel about Ourselves - Linda Tschirhart Sanford, Mary Ellen Donovan Even though this book was published back in the 1980s before I was born, I could still relate to some of the issues in this book. It's very well researched, and a great starting point for women who want to improve their self-esteem. One can read through the chapters and then go to the notes section for more information. They quote a substantial amount of material, and sometimes the quotes can be a little overbearing. That being said most of their research comes from the humanities and lacks hard science articles. I mean that there is a lack of research articles from peer reviewed journals. Rather most quotes come from books, magazine/newspaper articles, and their own self-esteem groups.

The authors have addressed major aspects of women's life where they suffer the most in their self-esteem, including immediate families, relationships, religion, school, jobs, and sexuality. Some women may have more concern with one or two topics rather than all of them. After each chapter, there are Blueprints for Change" sections that have questions designed to encourage one to think about where her low self-esteem pattern comes from.

I think this book could have been framed in a better way. The first 3 sections talk about where women have historically had low self-esteem, and section 4 discusses how to deal with low self-esteem in a more detailed way. If the authors had framed the first 3 sections on the history of low self-esteem in women, it may have more relevance. Instead, they seem to make generalizations and assume that women are still going through these issues. They may or may not be. It depends on their life experiences.

The authors do their best to breach race, class, religious, and sexual orientation lines, which is probably why the book is so huge. However, most of the information probably pertains to heterosexual, middle-class, white women. Please don't misunderstand me though. They still do talk about race, religion, and sexuality, but they discuss how those things are different from the norm and there is less information on these things probably because there is less research on these topics. The authors do talk more about these topics than other books tend to do.

I don't think this book is particularly helpful in improving self-esteem and one's life, but I do think it's a good starting point to get one's thinking jumpstarted into gear.