Mary Pipher News Today

Girls are struggling with some of the highest-ever levels of depression, anxiety and thoughts of suicide. But there are pragmatic ways you can make a difference.

No matter how dark the days, we can find light in our own hearts, and we can be one another’s light.

The Supreme Court justice found herself balancing conflicting demands of professional achievement and family expectations to the end.

And in spite of that, girls are increasingly outcompeting boys and turning into future leaders.

Nebraska environmental group sets focus of forum on nitrates and other contaminants found in state's water

Find something to read this week in the Northland.

Hot takes, cold takes, pink takes, patriarchy takes, mother/daughter takes: 'Barbie' offers grist for every media mill

The author of “Reviving Ophelia” chats about her interpretation of “Barbie,” her favorite scenes, and why men should enjoy the movie too.

Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty/Warner Bros.Mary Pipher used to denounce Barbie dolls.Barbies were exactly what Pipher—whose 1994 non-fiction book Reviving Ophelia inspired the plot of Barbie, according to director Greta Gerwig—strived to warn girls about in her writing. Girls shouldn’t need to have a figure like Barbie, she said, nor a perfectly symmetrical face or smooth blonde hair to be beautiful. “To totally accept the cultural definit...

Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty/Warner Bros.No one can beat Greta Gerwig at the tricky game of writing a memorable monologue.Barbie only proves this further. Gerwig has already given us great speeches with Saoirse Ronan, who was responsible for both Lady Bird’s “Did you feel emotional the first time you drove in Sacramento” speech and “Women, they have minds and they have souls as well as hearts” line from Little Women. In Barbie, Ge...