Rebel Girls: Uplifting Stories About Courageous Young Women

A$39.95

edited by Sybilla Claus

Beneath a layer of perfect selfies, the mental well-being of teenage girls is deteriorating. Those who don’t conform to the ideal shape or size struggle with a lack of self-confidence, fear, and doubt. Girls are confronted with discrimination, bullying, diagnoses of autism and ADHD or are denied the daily freedoms accorded to boys.

But there is hope. This book tells the stories of young rebels who have managed to fight against the sex stereotypes and find their own way. Fifty contributors from various countries including The Netherlands, USA, Taiwan, Denmark, China, Afghanistan and Spain pose important questions that you don’t often hear discussed about what it means to be a girl in the modern world. We hear from experts such as Finnish psychiatrist Riittakerttu Kaltiala and Holly Moreau from Fanfiction USA who share their work with girls and dissect the cultural forces at play. There are also the stories from girls and women themselves who explain how they are navigating the complex challenges faced by girls in the 21st century.

The future for girls is crucial for the future of everyone. This uplifting collection demonstrates how the next generation is continuing the radical feminist fight to expose misogyny and find autonomy, confidence, enjoyment and independence in their lives.

16 JUNE 2026 | ISBN 9781922964403 | Paperback | 152mm x 228mm | 400 pages

edited by Sybilla Claus

Beneath a layer of perfect selfies, the mental well-being of teenage girls is deteriorating. Those who don’t conform to the ideal shape or size struggle with a lack of self-confidence, fear, and doubt. Girls are confronted with discrimination, bullying, diagnoses of autism and ADHD or are denied the daily freedoms accorded to boys.

But there is hope. This book tells the stories of young rebels who have managed to fight against the sex stereotypes and find their own way. Fifty contributors from various countries including The Netherlands, USA, Taiwan, Denmark, China, Afghanistan and Spain pose important questions that you don’t often hear discussed about what it means to be a girl in the modern world. We hear from experts such as Finnish psychiatrist Riittakerttu Kaltiala and Holly Moreau from Fanfiction USA who share their work with girls and dissect the cultural forces at play. There are also the stories from girls and women themselves who explain how they are navigating the complex challenges faced by girls in the 21st century.

The future for girls is crucial for the future of everyone. This uplifting collection demonstrates how the next generation is continuing the radical feminist fight to expose misogyny and find autonomy, confidence, enjoyment and independence in their lives.

16 JUNE 2026 | ISBN 9781922964403 | Paperback | 152mm x 228mm | 400 pages

EBOOKS WILL BE AVAILABLE ON PUBLICATON DATE

Table of Contents

Introduction: How Free Are Our Rebel Girls?
Sybilla Claus

PART I: FROM GIRL TO WOMAN, THEN AND NOW

1. Boys in My Class Call Girls ‘Whores’
Djenna and Jordana

2. Never Keep Quiet about What Makes You Angry or Sad
Sidra

3. Look at Yourself through Gentler Eyes
Liesbeth Woertman

4. Where Has the Tomboy Gone?
Lisa Selin Davis

5. As a Tomboy I Can Step Out of the Beauty Standard for Girls
Hsu Ya-Ting

6. If a Girl Says No, It Has to Be No
Shu-Hui

7. Bias: Black Girls Seen as Adults Too Early On
Lorraine Nowlin

8. Among Men: Living Undercover as a Man Is an Age-Old Phenomenon
Sybilla Claus

9. Lesbians Fighting Back
Bev Jackson

10. My Red Celebration
Gabrielle Pröll

11. My Sister, My Mum and Me: That’s Us Against the World
Jade

12. I Teach Girls that They Too Can Be Role Models
Alicia

PART II: WHAT ARE GIRLS UP TO ONLINE?

13. When Harry Potter Met Draco – Fanfiction: A Guide for Adults
Holly Moreau

14. Instagram Fails to Remove Self-Harm Content
Lotte Rubæk

15. Weird Nerd Women and Their Online Lives
Tar-Míriel

16. Proliferation of Violent Online Porn Harms Girls
Melinda Tankard Reist

17. What Girls Look for in Gender Identity and in Being Trans
Sarah Mittermaier

18. Scouting Has Given Me a Lot of Self-Confidence
Lilian

19. The Older You Get, the More You Become Okay with Being Yourself
Iza

20. Fighting for the L Word on TikTok
Alison Ellis

PART III: HOW GENDER IDENTITY IDEOLOGY IS HARMING GIRLS

21. Criticism of Religion Was a Beautiful Leftist and Liberal Tradition
Jolande Withuis

22. Why Same-Sex Care Matters for Disabled Girls and Women
Henrietta Freeman

23. ‘Choice’: Freedom Inside Patriarchy – A Lesbian’s Account about Transitioning to Male
Max Robinson

24. Billionaires Push Synthetic Sex Identities on Kids for Profit
Jennifer Bilek

25. Selling Transition: A Case Study from Taiwan
Jaclynn Joyce

26. I Am a Woman, Not a Mythical In-Between Being
Bevin Sheely

27. Pathologist: “Breast Amputations for Transition Are a Medical Scandal”
Ruben Buijs

28. The Pain of Growing Up Cannot Be Taken Away
Riittakerttu Kaltiala

29. Being a Lesbian Is Fine – As Long as You Don’t Talk About It
Wen-Ying

PART IV: GIRLS PAYING THE PRICE OF BRUTAL BELIEFS

30. The Taliban Can’t Kill Our Voices
Sanobar, Dunya, Maryam, Baran and Ghawgha

31. Thirty Million Female Fetuses Aborted in China
Zhang Yue-Ying and Wang Shih-Han

32. ‘Honour’ Killings Always Target Young Women
Sybilla Claus on Ryan al Najjar

33. How to Help Young Victims of Pimping
Anke van Dijke and Linda Terpstra

34. You Told Me You Were Different: Abuse by Men Who Call Themselves Trans
Kitty Robinson

35. Age of Consent
Anonymous

36. A Letter to My Therapist
Eli W.

37. The Decrees
Anonymous

38. On Hurting Transwomen
Kitty Robinson

PART V: HOPE KEEPS US GOING

39. The Ideal in East Asia Is for Women’s Legs to Be as Thin as Paper
Ada

40. Perseverance Is My Motto
Sietske

41. I Thought I Was Saving Trans Kids
Jamie Reed

42. Spanish Mothers Standing Up Against Mutilation
Maria Santos

43. Western Laws Must Protect Bicultural Girls from Medieval Practices
Shirin Musa

44. Girls in Sport: Still Fighting for Fair Play
Marianne Driessen

45. Show Your Yoni Some Love: Claim Your Pleasure
Sybilla Claus

Conclusion: Let’s Go Rebels!
Sybilla Claus

Sources