Girlology: A Girl's Guide to Stuff that Matters

Girlology was written by two female doctors who also happen to be mothers of daughters; one of us is a pediatrician (a doctor for children and teenagers up to about 18 years old) and the other is an obstetrician/ gynecologist (fancy words for a doctor who specializes in delivering babies and taking care of girls’ and women’s body parts that are involved in making babies). Both of us take care of lots of teens who are developing sexually. That means every day we talk to girls thinking about sex . . . avoiding sex . . . having sex . . . confused about sex . . . scared to death about consequences of sex. . . . You name it, we’ve seen it and talked about it.

We think girls are smart, unique, brave and strong, and we want you to have information that will let all that good stuff shine through!

As doctors, we see girls every day who have the same questions you do. And we see lots of girls and even women who have gotten some really wrong answers! No, your period will not stop when you go swimming. Yes, you can get pregnant the first time you have sex. No, you are not gay if you look at a naked girl in the locker room. Girlology is about giving you the straight, true facts about your body.

We also treat patients who have made healthy decisions about sex and relationships and others who aren’t so happy with the decisions they’ve made. We want you to be happy with the decisions you make! Girlology is about helping you figure out what’s important to you so that you can make decisions you will be pleased with for a long, long, long time.

Girlology is about helping you figure out a lot of things that matter— your body, your relationships and sex. It may sound scary but it’s not.

Girlology is about periods and body parts “down there.” It will help you decide how you feel about sex and sexual things. It will help you understand guys and learn how to speak up for yourself. It will help you talk to parents and other adults and gain their trust. Girlology will also teach you how to understand your friends’ and family’s values and decide what is important to you. All in all, it’s about gaining the confidence you need to develop a special type of “Girl Power!”

We’ve Got Girl Power!

Every school has them: girls who have a special sort of Girl Power. We bet you could name a girl right now who has it. She’s the one other girls trust with secrets, guys respect and teachers count on.

She may not be the prettiest or most popular, but you can’t miss her. She talks, thinks and acts in a way that shows everyone she’s confident in who she is and the choices she makes. She’s just plain different, but it’s a good kind of different!

So how did she get it—this Girl Power? Did it show up wrapped in a nice, neat package on her sixteenth birthday? Was it magically revealed to her in a fantastic dream? Did her fairy godmother wave a magic wand and Girl Power descended in a cloud of pixie dust? Nope. None of the above.

The cool thing about Girl Power is that it’s in every girl. That includes you, me and the girl sitting next to you in science class! But you’ve got to discover it, respect it and grow it. When you see a girl with strong Girl Power, you can bet that she’s been growing it since she was a preteen. You can do the same thing, and there is no better time to start than now!

Let’s Get Started!

Girlology is about finding that special Girl Power and showing you how to let it do its thing. First you will need three sharpened #2 pencils, two clean erasers, 10 pieces of wide-ruled notebook paper . . . just kidding! Girlology is nothing like a school assignment or a test. It’s meant to be read at your own pace. Pondering is encouraged!

Remember we told you that there are some things that will just happen to you because you’re a girl, and other girl things you have choices about? Well, we girls are going to talk about both in this book. We are going to challenge you to make decisions now about what choices you will make in the future. When you decide what is important today, you can make promises to yourself that you can stick to as you get older. These promises you make to yourself are important promises to keep!

We Need to Talk

When it comes to sexual things, you are going to want to talk about them. And everyone is going to be telling you something about sex. Here’s where your Girl Power comes in—it’s up to you to decide who can be trusted with your thoughts and feelings and who you can trust to give you good information. You will find out that some people want to tell you things about sex for your good, and other people want to tell you things about sex for their good.