For many girls, the end of childhood marks the moment we begin to minimize our wants and curtail our feelings. It is when we begin to alienate our bodies, even our minds. This generative workshop will offer a space to define girlhood for yourself and shed a light on your own experience as female or female identifying. We’ll work to peel back the layers on what it meant to be female in the past while also reflecting on this current moment in time. We will read exceptional works of literature around girlhood to guide our conversation including excerpts by Melissa Febos, Maya Angelou, Jo Ann Beard, Nicole Graev Lipson and Michelle Herman.

What these writers share is a commitment to discovering on the page what they think and feel and believe about defining girlhood. Such examples will guide our discussion and writing as we work to bring our own experience of girlhood and womanhood to the forefront.