Girl Defined
Radical Design for Beauty, Femininity, and Identity.
By Kristen Clark & Bethany Beal
I am excited to recommend a series of books to you over the next few weeks! These books are written by a pair of sisters, and while the books do go hand-in-hand, they can also be read as stand-alone books. Today’s recommendation covers Girl Defined: God’s Radical Design for Beauty, Femininity, and Identity.
Before you click away thinking these books wouldn’t apply to you – WAIT! Because of the current cultural norms in our country, we as women can become easily desensitized to the enemy’s tactics of twisting what the Word of God says our identity and roles as women should be. I mean, look at Eve! We’ve been easily deceived since DAY ONE. Humble yourself enough to acknowledge that none of us are above falling prey to the world’s ungodly ideas (sermon concluded!). While I do think the target audience for these books is about 15 (some younger) to young adult women, those of us with a few more years of experience are not immune to our views getting out of whack too.
The first book Kristen & Bethany published was Girl Defined. The main point of this book is to “give a radically better vision for what true womanhood is all about” (20), to help young women grow in their knowledge of what God really says about the role of girls and women. They start the book by considering some of the counterfeit views of femininity that are sold to us as women by outlining three “pillars” of counterfeit femininity: liberation, independence, and sexual freedom. They explain these concepts by using personal, relatable experiences combined with sound Biblical content. They go on to consider topics like why God created the female gender, what our purpose is as women, how to obtain lasting worth, what true beauty looks like, how to apply femininity to romantic relationships, and more.
I used the Girl Defined book a few summers ago as a book club style resource for our youth and young adult girls to read and discuss. The book is handily split into five parts, so we read a part each week, then rotated houses to host the discussion portion of the meet up time. Each chapter has study guide questions to help readers better engage with the chapter. Those were very helpful in facilitating group discussion.
Here are a few things I highlighted in my copy of the Girl Defined:
“Instead of floating in the current and following the popular trends for womanhood, let's jump onto the shore and rethink this thing. In what ways have you bought into the three pillars? Do you believe liberating yourself from God's design will give you a satisfying purpose?” (49)
“Despite what society thinks, the gender-neutral movement will not lead to restoration. It will not lead to fulfillment. It can't. Why? Because its foundation is built on a lie – a lie that says lasting happiness and fulfillment can come outside of God's design” (76).
“Ultimately, Adam's role as the leader and Eve's role as the helper have the same underlying purpose. It's all about serving and pointing others to Christ. Neither role is about us. They are both always about God. When serving God is our goal, having the title "helper" won't bother us. We can gratefully accept our God-defined position to bring honor to him” (87).
Audience:
Women, girls 13+; The age appropriateness of this book will depend greatly on the maturity of the young reader.
Usefulness Rating:
Girl Defined is incredibly useful. Kristen and Bethany don’t sugar-coat the hard things our culture is pushing on girls and women, nor do they shy away from Biblical truth in addressing those issues.
Entertainment Value:
Kristen and Bethany use lots of personal stories, other people’s testimonies, and cultural references that keep this book engaging and entertaining. It’s obviously not meant just to be read for fun, but it is fun (and challenging simultaneously!).
Good for Groups:
Yes! This book is great for groups. Depending on the dynamics of your group, you may find that it is better to read the entire book before deciding how best to use it. Some of these topics are controversial so you may find that disclosing the content to parents of minor participants would be considerate.
To learn more about Kristen and Bethany, you can visit their website www.girldefined.com
For more information about this book or other reading suggestions, feel free to contact me directly.
