Duffy, Carol Ann, ed. (1997). I Wouldn't Thank You for a Valentine: Poems for Young Feminists. Illustrated by Trisha Rafferty. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 112pp.

Grade Range: 6-12

Genre: poetry

Summary and Critique

Carol Ann Duffy has compiled an extraordinary collection of poems with a feminist perspective that should be mainstay on every English/language arts bookshelf. I Wouldn't Thank You for a Valentine: Poems for Young Feminists covers the spectrum of issues and struggles that young women face, such as isolation, adherence to culturally constructed beauty ideals, and inequality. The poem from which the collection takes its name,"I Wouldn't Thank You for a Valentine" depicts the poet's desire for a happy relationship with her valentine, rather than one that is controlled by extraordinary feats of expression such as skywriting a valentine or expensive gifts. Another approach to relationships and marriage is taken by"Chat Show." This poem reveals the cultural assumptions that women must wait to be selected for marriage and that if a woman is not married, it must be because she has not been asked yet rather than due to her own decision to live a single-life. "Peck's Bad Boys" exposes the inequality that persists between athletic opportunities for men and women. This poem can fit nicely with a discussion on Title IX (mandate requiring equal athletics). "This Cat" illustrates the isolation felt by a young woman, since the poet desires attention and love like the cat, but is incapable of asserting such a desire. The poem also raises the notion of why should a young woman have to request love when it is easily extended to a cat. Conformity to beauty ideals is tackled in "Advice to a Teenage Daughter." Here, a young woman is presented with all the cosmetic weapons she will need in the conquest/catching of a man.

I Wouldn't Thank You for a Valentine contains poems on a variety of reading levels. While some poems might be too advanced (language, subject matter, etc.) for a middle school readership, there remains a host of poems that could be utilized even in the sixth grade classroom. Thus, the collection provides something for readers ranging from sixth grade up to twelfth grade. This collection can function as a companion to young women, affirming that others feel and undergo the same struggles they experience. For a male audience, the collection can hopefully expose them to an often suppressed viewpoint and prompt them to consider their interactions with young women.

Awards

2001 Popular Paperback for Young Adults by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA)

Themes/Topics

Friends and Enemies

Challenges and Triumphs

The Individual vs. Society

Love, Sex, and Romance

Editor and Illustrator Information

Editor Carol Ann Duffy is a Professor of English at Manchester Metropolitan University in Manchester, England where she teaches courses in poetry and creative writing. She has edited three poetry collections and has written six.

Illustrator Trisha Rafferty has illustrated for Carol Ann Duffy on several occasions, including Poems of Death and Loss and Stopping for Death.

For more information on Carol Ann Duffy:

http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth104 Biographical and bibliographical information on Duffy.

http://www.mystworld.com/youngwriter/authors/carolannduffy.html Interview with Duffy.

Media Connections

Movies

The Breakfast Club (1985) This film depicts a polarity of how young women identify themselves and with culture at large. It also does an excellent job portraying how young women are viewed and generalized by young men.

Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls (1998) A video adaptation of Mary Pipher's book by the same title. Most of the video is comprised of Pipher discussing the main issues presented in her b4teens_book. Pipher addresses the developmental issues of adolescent girls, the culture of teenage girls, and the needs they have that are and aren't being met by the American culture. While the video primarily concerns adolescent girls, Pipher does express a few brief concerns for adolescent boys.

Everyone's Child (1996) Depicts the plight of a young Zimbabwean woman as she must provide for her brothers and sister after her mother's death. Reveals the anxiety she feels as she is torn between providing for her family and the culturally unacceptable practices her situation forces her into. Has subtitles and mature content.

Failure is Impossible: Susan B. Anthony (n.d.) An interview with Lynn Sherr, author of Failure is Impossible: Susan B. Anthony in Her Own Words.

How to Make an American Quilt (1995). A soon-to-be married graduate student learns of life, love, disappointment, and enlightenment while spending the summer making a quilt with her grandmother and the grandmother's friends.

In the Time of Butterflies. (2001). In 1960, two sisters attempted to bring down the Dominican Republic government and were murdered as a result.

The Joy Luck Club (1993) Explores the lives of four Chinese women and their relationships with their four Chinese-American daughters.

Little Women (1994) The trials and tribulations of four sisters living in New England during the Civil War.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) In this"Cinderella" type comedy, Toula, a thirty-something year-old woman from a traditional Greek family, meets and falls in love with a non-Greek man.

Norma Rae. (1979) A single mother summons the courage to demand proper working conditions.

Magazines

Cosmo Girl, Seventeen, Teen, etc. These magazines can be utilized in class to convey how women are depicted in media and how they reaffirm beauty ideals, prompting young women to strive for such unattainable ideals.

Online Resources

http://bailiwick.lib.uiowa.edu/ge/ Site provides an overview and history of Title IX (gender equity in athletics), as well as evidence of the continued inequity.

http://www.eserver.org/feminism/ Site that contains a host of information ranging from feminist academic discourse to a history of feminism to gender and sexuality issues.

http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/wlm/#subject This is Duke University's online archival collection of documents from the Women's Liberation Movement. Images of historical material (pamphlets, literature, flyers, posters, etc.) are provided as well as information explaining their significance.

http://www.42explore2.com/suffrage.htm Provides an excellent overview of the women's suffrage movement in the United States.

http://www.inform.umd.edu/EdRes/Topic/WomensStudies/FilmReviews/ Database of movie reviews from a feminist perspective.

Related Texts

Weldon, Fay. (1983). The Life and Loves of a She-Devil. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 278 pp. Although potentially too advanced for anyone but juniors or seniors, the novel wrestles with a woman's isolation and struggle with beauty ideals. Through a series of painful and expensive surgeries she becomes the "ideal" woman. Adapted to a movie,"She-Devil" (1989).

Carter, Angela. (1988). Love. New York: Penguin, 120 pp. The story of love between a couple and the disintegration of that love, turning to the man's exploitation of the woman.

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. (1892). The Yellow Wallpaper. 63 pp. The story depicts the narrator's isolation and the notion that men know best.

Morrison, Toni. (1970). The Bluest Eye. New York: Plume-Penguin, 206 pp. The novel discusses how ideals of beauty affect all races. Ironically, the highest ideal is specific to a single race.

Morrison, Toni. (1973). Sula. New York: Plume-Penguin, 174 pp. Depicts the struggle between tradition versus modernity.

Baumgardner, Jennifer and Richards, Amy. (2000). Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 416 pp. This text could be used as a reference for any student or teacher attempting to learn more about modern feminism. It includes historical information, modern applications of feminism, critiques of mass-media, etc.

Teaching Ideas

(1)"Women in Comics" Comic-book and comic-strip depictions are quite unrepresentative of how women really are. This activity requires an introduction from the teacher in order to exhibit the gender/social inequities that persist in comics. Students are then asked to track comic-strips in the newspaper and comic-books for a week or two. They should keep a log of what they discover and should be encouraged to save each comic discussed in the log. Students should then either write about the inequities discovered or reconstruct the comics in a more realistic manner. Students should then have the option of sharing their findings and their work with their classmates.

[Summarized/adapted from "Project W.A.C.C.S. – Women as Characters in Comic Strips" by Rose Reissman in Notes Plus. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English. Pp. 11-15.]

(2) "Women in the Media" This is similar to the comic assignment. Students could record the cultural perceptions of women and men that they encounter through advertisements, music, music videos, film, etc. Students can then choose to write a response revealing how they feel about these perceptions, or students could be given the option to express these perceptions through their own creative work.

(Written by Blair Parsons and edited by Jennifer E. Moore)