Girls & Books (Dorota W)

"The book that made great impression on me is Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights. It was first published in 1847 under the pseudonym Ellis Bell. In this 19th century family saga the main protagonist is faced with tragic choice. Cathy has a strong personality and many ways she resembles a contemporary woman. Passionate as she is it is hard to control emotions. Choice between love to savage-like Heathcliff and well-mannered Edgar...

I also admire the author - a girl from Yorkshire who wasn't afraid to be an individual in not very woman-friendly times. Althought born and raised during Victorian age, Emily was neither a Victorian woman nor a Victorian writer."

Dorota

Girls & Books (Katarína)

"Since my ultimate favorite childhood book Pippi Longstocking is already taken (♥), I will go with this one..

I discovered Promiscuities by Naomi Wolf in my university gender and psychology class. Despite the fact that the book received a lot of negative comments, I liked it a lot, especially the way Naomi puts in the light coming-of-age of young women. All the stories describing what is going on in heads of young girls, how they cope with all the overwhelming and contradictory messages about sexuality, how they discover their bodies, emotions and sexual feelings, fall in love, struggle with the virgin/slut dichotomy, decide when and how they will lose their virginity and many more, combined with cross-cultural views on different theories, made me think about the way girls are depicted and perceived in the society and what do they have to overcome to become strong, empowered, confident women."

Katarína

Girls & Books (Luize)

"Pippi Longstocking has always been my favorite princess - she was strong, confident, fun, didn't really respect authorities just for being authorities and wasn't afraid of anything, had great sense of style and the prefect look (red hair + freckles)...


...though my first books on women that changed a lot overnight were both German (by a weird coincidence) - Ute Ehrhardt's Good Girls Go to Heaven, Bad Girls Go Even Farther and Sabine Werz's Best Friends, Best Enemies that I read when I was 13, I guess (the translations being my Latvian to English translations of titles I knew them by). These were fun popular books for somebody not really introduced to any feminist consciousness yet - raised the basic awareness about the existing gender norms / barriers / inequalities and told me that I am allowed to ignore what people expect from me as from a girl if I please so. And that's what I've been trying to do since that."

Luize

Girls & Books (Tove)

"I think every girl should read something by Jane Austen, preferably Pride and Prejudice first published in 1813. Jane writes about a time in English history when it was really difficult being a girl, everything was about finding man you could first and foremost marry for money so that he could support you. Still, in almost every book, the main character is a strong and powerful woman trying to be as independent as possible.

And when you've read the book, don't miss the BBC mini-series from 1995 with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth. :)"

Tove

+ Feel free to enjoy also quotes from works of wonderful Jane.

Empowerment recipes (Katarína)

"What empowers me as a girl:

My independence. My skills. That I can do both „female“ and „male“ work. The ability to take care of myself. And the ability to help my close ones.

My beloved ones. The way they support me. The way they make me feel special. How they lift me up when I´m down. Just having them in my life.

My education. And intelligence. How it makes me curious. That need to look deeper, search for answers. Ability to speak about things that matter.

My body. The way it´s shaped. How it´s unique. Its little imperfections. Softness of the skin. Its abilities. And yes, the multiple orgasms."

Katarína

Girls & Contraception (Decision by H.E.R.A.)

A short on girls and myths and truth about contraception produced by H.E.R.A.

Empowerment recipes (Stephanie)

"Maya Angelou once spoke of “how important it is to recognise and celebrate our heroes and she-roes”. It is the stories of inspirational people that empower me. Those women who stand up and fight for their rights and the rights of others; they are reproductive justice activists, writers, advocates, feminists, political activists, and trade union activists. Women throughout history such as Emma Goldman, Elvia Carrillo Puerto, Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington, Mairéad Farrell, Comandante Ramona, Eufrosina Cruz, Maire Drumm, Simone de Beauvoir, Rosemary Nelson, Rosa Parks…the list is endless, and their stories are both amazing and powerful.

However it is not only the stories of these people that are empowering. Empowerment also comes from the ordinary women of our communities who give sound advice, strength, solidarity and friendship. The women who listen, write and engage with others. The women who lead, collaborate, and advocate for others. The women who vote, protest, petition and march. The women who teach, educate, and learn. They are our mothers, daughters, grandmothers, sisters, friends, wives, girlfriends, partners, mentors and teachers.

And they are truly empowering."

Stephanie

Alicja ♥ Being a Girl

"Being a girl means being myself to me - to do things which I love and fulfilling myself in the way I want to. What empowers me the most every single day, are people who care about me. They give me huge kick to do what I love to and make my eyes smiling and my face laughing.

I really love being so complicated, because it's never boring, however sometimes irritating ;) And…what is the most important, my smile is the best and the most powerful, because it's a girly one ;) I just have to admit, that as a girl I feel quite unique when guys act like gentlemen and do some things for me. I think it is a feature of Polish boys, because for instance Japanese aren't that generous. I accepted being a girl and I enjoy it with pleasure (: "

Alicja

Natasha ♥ Being a Girl

"My feminine smile, the power of seduction, just being"are the reasons why Natasha LOVES being a girl

Empowerment recipes (Daniel)

"Annie Lenox and her SIGN campaign is empowering, her work worldwide and her leading role is amazing. She is showing than one women can lead a powerful movement, to deliver strong messages and to make changes happen"

Daniel

Here you can find more info of what and how Annie is doing!

Empowerment recipes (Tove)

"What really empowers me are my girlfriends. I feel privileged to have such strong, beautiful and intelligent women around me. They are all very certain females!"

Tove

Empowerment recipes (Ada)

World's Fastest Woman, 100M, Carmelita Jeter saying that the greatest competition that there is is the one she has with herself.

Empowerment recipes (Maya)

Shania Twain Man! I Feel Like A Woman

"I somehow always thought that this song is perfect for the blog"
Maya

Empowerment recipes (Luīze)

Sweet Fawn Coma Love

"Sweet Fawn is my latest belle-pop discovery (thanks to Agnese Putna) and this video has as many as two things that I find especially empowering and inspiring - the reclaiming of dresses (adore!) and quote that to me sounds like finally taking a step beyond the prejudice that love (existent or the lack of it, preferably one that lasts forever, though) is the only thing that fills heads of the girls, finally there are girls that say that

Just coz' you love me doesn't mean that I don't have plenty of shit to worry about."

Luīze

Empowerment recipes (Ada)

"I feel empowered by moving across the world on my own to pursue my dream. I love the feeling of being able to run a marathon as the youngest person and know that my mind and body is strong enough to do it."

Ada