Respect Yourself, Protect Yourself: Latina Girls and Sexual Identity (Intersections, 14)

Not worth it. Investigative skills were subpar. It is very possible she primed these young women she interviewed to reply to the manner in which they did. She never explained of provided the exact wording she would say before they responded leaving us to believe the girls came up with these replies all on their own. It is very easy to prime a 13 year old girl into saying what they say. I don't consider it a credible research project for lack of detail and depth of the interview process, other than what type of clothes she would wear and her tone towards the subjects. Save some trees and just get the ebook if you need this for school, but if you don't need it then look into better literature.

Too many studies on Latinos/as focus on California or New York. This study was done in Chicago. It's unique in that it has a mix of Chicanas and Puerto Rican females. This book is a great edition to growing work on the sexual formations and decisionmaking of young ladies, especially those of color. The whole point of this book is to ask teen Latinas who did NOT get pregnant why and how they were able to do so. I liked that this book didn't feel oppressive, but also didn't present the subject group as goddesses either. I debate whether this may be too academic for teen Latinas to read. However, I think Latina daughters and mothers could have great, honest conversations if both read the book and then discussed one night or weekend. This book tries to be sexual orientation-diverse. Still, I read the word "lesbian" often and don't recall ever seeing "bisexual." Most females I know come out as bisexual before ever coming close to identifying as lesbian. The Latina lesbians interviewed here seemed to all have white girlfriends and I noticed that the author never explores why that is. This is a strong text and I actually think any high school with a large Latino/a study body should own it. I salute the academic who put this together.

This book shifts our conversations about Latina young women in terms of their experiences around sexuality. It is asking different and important types of questions about safe sex and Latina girls and importantly, the author actually talks with young people to learn more about this topic. The study is well done. And it is also useful in thinking about how we might improve sex education for young people.