Customer Rating: 
Summary: This should be mandatory reading
Comment: I first heard Jean Kilbourne lecture at The Harvard Medical School
over 30 years ago. Her lecture was transformational, and I never
saw the world in the same way again. Since then, I have followed
her career closely. She brought her message into print form
with her first book; "Can't Buy my Love". Dr. Kilbourne's
raison d'etre is to educate the public to unconscious and conscious
psychological devices that keep women and girls in a one down
position. She described the way in which sexism is ingrained in the media, which both reflects and perpetuates cultural stereotypes. Her message is extremely effective in inoculating women and girls against the negative effects of the media. She was decades ahead of her time, and a lone voice of warning. Unfortunately, she tells us that things have only gotten worse. Now, once again she is the messenger of our times who sees so clearly the crisis which is happening to our girls. Both her books are a must read for anyone who cares about girls and women. Dr. Kilbourne's newest book, So Sexy So Soon (co-authored with Diane Levin) is a greatly needed therapeutic intervention for girls and their concerned parents. The American Psychological Association Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls also concurs with Dr. Kilbourne and they too recommend early media education awareness in schools and community centers in order to fight sexualization of girls and counter the negative effects which Jean so masterfully describes in her book. I would recommend both of Dr. Kilbourne's books for anyone who wants to fight sexism and educate our society to the negative effects of the media on female potential. Her books will begin the much needed healing process for any one who reads them. I cannot recommend this book more highly. It should be required reading for anyone in the education system and helping professions as well as parents of girls.
Stephanie Jones, Ed.D.
Founder of the Girls Institute for Empowerment.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Basically Good but with a Few Caveats
Comment: "So Sexy So Soon" contains a good discussion of the problem parents today face with the hypersexualization of childhood. I really appreciated how Drs. Levin and Kilbourne go beyond simply recounting the problem to actually making concrete suggestions on what parents can do to fight back. Too many other books on the subject don't offer enough in the way of solutions (for example Girls Gone Mild: Young Women Reclaim Self-Respect and Find It's Not Bad to Be Good and Prude: How the Sex-Obsessed Culture Damages Girls (and America, Too!)).
One of the main criticisms I had is that like Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing Our Daughters from Marketers' Schemes, "So Sexy So Soon" has a tendency to not distinguish between what is truly harmful to children and what is innocuous. For example, the sleazy Bratz dolls are lumped in with the wholesome Disney Princess ones and superhero cartoons like Spiderman or He-Man are made to seem just as bad as the completely antisocial video game "Grand Theft Auto".
The other big issue I had with "So Sexy So Soon" is the authors' continual bashing of abstinence education. Throughout the book, they keep going on and on about the supposed "need" for so-called "comprehensive" sex ed that promotes the idea to children that "sex can bring pleasure, joy, and connection...and [teaches them] to say 'Yes!' in a loving and responsible way." (pg. 183). Yikes! What about all those parents who believe that the only responsible place for the joys of sexuality is within marriage? Pop culture does enough to undermine that message without schools also doing so.
Customer Rating:
Summary: An important and helpful book
Comment: I would like to disagree with another reviewer who commented on So Sexy So
Soon's "shallow" concept (i.e. the strong influence of media on peoples'
lives), and criticized the authors for only citing examples about abnormal
teenagers and ignoring the "real problems of sexual violence and related
troubles." I'm not sure what book he was reading, but the authors' thorough
research, examples, and direct attention to real teens and widespread
problems are the reasons I would recommend this book to parents, teachers,
and counselors! Levin and Kilbourne's ideas are far from shallow and truly
important both to today's youth and adults, as well as to the state of
tomorrow's world.
As a 26-year-old woman who grew up in the "MTV generation," I witnessed some
of my best childhood friends turn into adults with real problems, at the
base of which was a lack of self-esteem and the ability to feel comfortable
being themselves outside of pop culture. Now as I work with youth in my job,
I see first-hand just how much younger sexual talk, dress, and activity
begins even than when I was a child. This is not an issue of nostalgia for
a more naïve era, but truly a problem for the lives these children will grow
up to lead, for when children take sexual cues from media, unwanted
pregnancy, assault, drug use, poverty, disease, and depression can be the
eventual result (I've seen it myself!). While this is a bleak thought, I
found it very heartening to read Levin and Kilbourne's suggestions that will
give parents, teachers, and counselors ways to think about and address
today's impact of commercial pressures so that more positive ends are met.
I am very glad to see Levin and Kilbourne bring their expertise, research,
and advice to the challenges that today's parents and tweens/teens face.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Parents-put this book on your must read list
Comment: Jean's books should be required reading for all parents! She offers insightful solution focused strategies to counter media messages with children of all ages.
Customer Rating:
Summary: So Sexy So Soon, But Who's Preaching to Whom?
Comment: I utilized the book for a college class I teach on "Media Effects." The response of the students reveals an important, and, in my opinion, valid critique of the tone of Levin and Kilbourne's approach: That "rather than illuminating an issue in a way that can be revealing to *both* parents and children alike, their approach does more harm than good in *furthering* not *illuminating* the generational divide." That their approach takes *so* much a judgemental and alarmist approach, that the students (of the upper end of the youth generation she's addressing) feel it to be completely "out of touch" with their experience of the very phenomenon of which their book speaks.
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