At once an affectionate tribute and a work of social
history, Going All the Way follows teenage girls’ thoughts and experiences during one
of the most remarkable eras in the history of sex, gender, and adolescence –
the brief and amazing time when teenage girls knew of almost no reason not
to have sex.
“A brave approach to one of the most emotionally and
politically charged issues of our times. “
-- Peggy
Orenstein, The New York Times
“Teenage girls’ lust is all about stories passionately told. . . the thrill lies in the breathless confession, the tiny detail, the confirmation that repetition accords. Thompson listens patiently, then. . . nails everything. . . These girls are her text, and Thompson is a very close reader.”
-- Katherine Dieckmann, The Village Voice
A fascinating probe into girls; intimate lives. So much so that the reader often feels like a voyeur, overhearing a conversation that is not meant for the public.”
-- Catherine Texier, Newsday
“Sharon Thompson, in her fascinating book Going All the Way, lets these girls tell their own stories of romance, sex and pregnancy in their own terms. . . She reproduces them generously, along with her own judicious and politically pungent commentary.”
-- Ellen Ross, The Nation
"What makes this book so absorbing and so important is that it captures the experiences of young women at a critical moment in American history." --
-- Joan Jacobs Brumberg, Author of Fasting Girls: The History of Anorexia Nervosa
“. . . this disturbing investigation by feminist writer
Thompson. . . allows the girls to tell
their side of the story of their adolescence. . . . ” -- Publisher’s
Weekly
“This is the first book of its
kind, and it is remarkable in many ways – as an ethnographical account that
makes teenage girls active subjects in their own story, as a unique contribution
to political contests over teenage sexuality, and as a wonderful read.” -- Regina Kunzel, The Women's Review of Books
“Sharon Thompson’s rare and lovely book Going All the Way: Teenage girls’ tales of sex, romance, and pregnancy charts the sea changes that took place between the late ‘70s and the late ‘80s, as adolescent girls increasingly had more sex and faced less public and personal shame . . . As Thompson traces them, the last two decades have seen a gradual breakdown of the hallowed equation of love and sex for girls; how they (we!) have filled that meaning vacuum is a tale at once riveting and regrettable, heartening and scary.” -- Terri Sutton, Scrawl
"Thompson is an exeptional researcher and not just another journalist with an interesting idea. I write about her work in my book. . . about 6-12 year old girls, not teens, and agree with her that a teenage girl’s as well as a pre-teen girl’s view of love and romance make her especially vulnerable today. -- Sharon Lamb, author The Secret Lives of Girls
