Q&A with “A Girl’s Guide to Puberty and Periods” coauthor Marni Sommer
Blog Post by Michelle New
Project Glimmer builds personal confidence in adolescent girls, and we give girls and women essential goods, including feminine hygiene. Over the past 18-months, we have distributed over 300,000 period products across the country.
Another important aspect of feminine care is knowledge. We recently met Dr. Marni Sommer and her organization Grow and Know, which educates girls, and boys, about puberty through books and videos. Dr. Marni Sommer founded Grow and Know in 2010 after completing her doctorate in public health. While doing research in Tanzania,
“I found a huge gap in girls’ understanding and confidence around their periods and puberty. As a result, I founded Grow and Know and developed the Tanzania girls’ puberty book to try to help fill that gap. I wanted my books to include girls’ own voiced experiences, which is why all of our books include the stories and questions of real girls (or boys).”
Grow and Know has developed puberty books for girls and boys in ten countries around the world, and distributed over two million copies. The organization saw that girls in the USA lacked knowledge and guidance about growing up and, “we decided that our next project should be a book for girls in the USA, and we are so excited to share A Girl’s Guide to Puberty and Periods!” A Girl’s Guide is a graphic novel for girls ages 9-14 focused on sharing stories and information about puberty and menstruation. I had the opportunity to interview Dr. Sommer about her organization and the resources they have developed for young people.
“Puberty is really not that different all over the world – which is wonderful as a reminder of the commonality we can all find in growing up.”
Why is it important for your puberty books to be country specific and have “social, cultural, and economic context”?
Girls’ experiences of puberty and menstruation differ across contexts and cultures depending on the specific beliefs, common practices and resources that may be available to them. We think it is important that each book really reflect the culture and context that the girls are living in so that it is relevant and relatable.
Even within the USA, girls come from a range of sociocultural backgrounds, economic and geographical areas and their families, communities and social networks have different beliefs and practices associated with menstruation and puberty. We tried to design A Girl’s Guide to Puberty and Periods so that it speaks to both the diversity and commonality of those experiences.
This is also why we think it is so important that A Girl’s Guide includes the stories and questions of real girls from around the country. As we conducted the research to develop the book, we asked girls to share their first period stories, the questions they had about growing up, and their needs and challenges during puberty and their first period. We integrated these real-life stories and experiences directly into the book.
Can you share a little about your new videos?
Along with A Girl’s Guide to Puberty and Periods, we created a series of 6 short animated videos sharing tips & tricks to help girls navigate the ups and downs of puberty. The videos are complementary to the book, and use humor to share additional guidance. The video series focuses on Maya and her friends Evie and Olivia as they face some of the challenges that puberty can bring, such as new body smells and menstrual leaks. The videos also feature Super Flo, the Menstruation Superhero and terrible poet. We hope that the videos will provide girls (and the adults in their lives) with a fun and funny take on the crazy world of puberty!
How has your view of puberty changed in doing this work and learning from those involved in your participatory research?
I’ve learned most profoundly that puberty is really not that different all over the world – which in some ways is wonderful as a reminder of the commonality we can all find in growing up. That doesn’t mean we haven’t learned about unique practices and beliefs about puberty – and menstruation or periods – in different parts of the world, and how that impacts young peoples’ lives, but I do think there is more that is similar than is different. In doing the research in the USA over the last few years with girls and the adults who interact in their lives, such as parents, teachers, coaches and school nurses, this finding was confirmed for our own country as well. Even here in the USA, girls are not necessarily getting all the information and support that they need, and caregivers may be too shy or uncomfortable to talk to them about puberty. This makes it even more important that we develop a puberty book that really speaks to girls – and in addition – has content that parents are comfortable sharing with their children. Participatory methodologies are a fantastic way to really capture peoples’ lived experiences – their viewpoints, their perspectives, their recommendations. Such methodologies have been central to our ability to develop puberty books that are really meaningful to the girls and boys – and their parents and teachers – who read them.
How has this organization changed over the past decade?
Grow and Know has grown bigger and better than I ever dreamed when I first founded the organization. What began as a small organization focused on developing puberty content for girls in Tanzania and a dream to do books in other countries, has become something so much bigger, with books for girls and for boys in 10 countries, with partners across the USA and around the world.
It has also been exciting to try and adapt new styles of books. For example, when we designed A Girl’s Guide to Puberty & Periods, we chose a graphic-novel style of illustration. This was our first time using this type of illustration style, and we love how it turned out!
For more information on Grow and Know, you can visit their website. To learn more about A Girl’s Guide to Puberty and Periods, buy the book, and view their video library, click here.