I Am an Emotional Creature: The Secret Life of Girls Around the World Read Online Free PDF Page A

her.
    APOLLINE
    My father thinks his daughter is the perfect girl
That means good results at school
No boyfriends
No sex
No smoking
No drugs
First time I had sex I was sixteen
It was very bad
The boy wasn’t my boyfriend
Just a friend I didn’t want to have sex
I was a little drunk
I regret that he wasn’t the boy I liked
I am with my boyfriend now
He is gentle. He pays attention to me.
We have sex one or two times a week.
    SOPHIE
    The first time I was with a boy I didn’t know
It was very good
He cared about me
He said he wasn’t a virgin but I think he was
He was shy and didn’t know what he was doing
He was kind with me
I talk to my father about sex
He asks me questions
He asks if it is good for me and what we did.
Sometimes I don’t answer
He says I have to be careful
Don’t get pregnant and diseases
    APOLLINE
    I wish my parents knew I had a boyfriend
They wouldn’t approve so I don’t tell them
    SOPHIE
    I like the way I look, the way my hand moves when I smoke. I feel more confident and grown up.
    APOLLINE
    The good future:
    A wonderful job
    A family, three children, two boys and a girl
    I always wanted two brothers, one older, one younger
    I wanted to take care of the younger and wanted the older to take care of me.
    SOPHIE
    The good future:
I want to have money
I want to play in the theater
I want a girl because she’s cute. She will be a princess.
Beautiful clothes. No problems.
    APOLLINE
    Bad future:
People don’t care about other people
They only care about themselves
People sleep in the streets
A lot of poor
    SOPHIE
    Teenagers do bad things.
Drugs and fight
They don’t realize reality
They are in a dream
They only care about themselves and no one else
    APOLLINE
    I can talk to Sophie
She is my best friend
I can laugh with her
When I’m sad I know she will be there for me
    SOPHIE
    I can be myself with Apolline
She won’t judge me
I know it’s bad to smoke but I don’t think I’m an addict
    APOLLINE
    I know I’m an addict
I will stop when my studies finish
Peut-être

THINGS I HEARD ABOUT SEX
    It’s loud and scary
My mother and father were doing it once
in the next room
I thought my mother was dying
It can kill you
It can free you
Just say no
You can say no
You won’t want to say no
It’s natural
It’s healthy
It’s evil
Boys want it more than girls
Girls want it more than boys
Guys don’t know what they’re doing
Only allowed to do it when you are making babies
My mother says it’s spiritual
I wish my mother wouldn’t say anything
    Know your vagina
It’s yours
Ask questions
Practice abstinence
Get birth control
It can take you over
You can catch dirty things
Bleeding makes you want it
Bleeding is the beginning
It can ruin you
Consume you
Masturbating is important
Masturbating is illegal
Sex is only about love
Sex is another sport like gymnastics
    It makes you lose weight
360 calories an hour.

I DANCE (I)
    Heart
Beat
Sound
Move
Make
Shake
Body
Want
    Girl
Hips
Girl
Feet
Girl
Ground
Girl moving now
    I dance to disappear
I dance to know I’m here
I dance ’cause I’m horny
’Cause it’s holy
’Cause I want to forget
    I dance ’cause I’m pissed off
I dance ’cause I can’t
study anymore
I dance ’cause it’s better
than sexting
R u naked?

What r u doing with ur hands?
    I dance because everything is possible
I dance ’cause it gets me high
’Cause it’s the one thing
you can’t take away
I dance ’cause it keeps me
separate
from everyone else’s
opinions and ideas
I dance ’cause I’m
bleeding
bleeding
becoming
    I dance ’cause I can touch
the music
in the discos of Reykjavik
Mumbai, Manhattan, Barcelona
I dance till my mascara
runs down my chin
    I dance to the drums of the forest and rivers
I dance to the beat of the cicadas
I dance to the traffic
to the crowds
to the silence
I dance to the end of unkindness
I dance past the killing fields
I dance past Wounded Knee
I dance past the skeletons and bones
I dance past slave branding
and Holocaust tattoos
I dance past