Award Winning Author to Speak at Juvenile Justice Event | Register Now

NOTE: This is a resend of a press release sent on 10/19.
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October 19, 2016 | For Immediate Release

Media Contact: Kevin Bowling | Circuit Court Administrator | 616-786-4123

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Author Nancy Jo Sales to Speak at Juvenile Justice Vision 20/20 Event

Award-winning author of "American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenagers," Nancy Jo Sales, will be addressing juvenile justice professionals from across Michigan on October 27, 2016. Register now. Sales will be speaking at the Juvenile Justice Vision 20/20 Girls Matter Fall Training Event at Grand Valley State University’s Pew Campus in downtown Grand Rapids. The event, which takes place on October 27-28, will focus on addressing the specific needs of girls in our communities and those within the juvenile justice system. Participants will receive a copy of Sales’ book as part of their registration and the event will include a book signing.

One of the dominant forces in the lives of girls coming of age in America today is social media. In the keynote presentation, award-winning writer Nancy Jo Sales will address the effect social media is having on an entire generation of young women. As told by her recent book American Girls, Sales will explain what it feels like to be a girl in America today. By sharing the stories she has heard from over two hundred girls, ages thirteen to nineteen, she will describe the shift in the way girls are growing up, a phenomenon that transcends race, geography, and household income. 

Ms. Sales will describe the inexorable and ubiquitous experience of a new kind of adolescence—one dominated by new social and sexual norms; where issues of identity and self-esteem are magnified and transformed by social platforms that provide instantaneous judgment. She will engage the audience with what it means to be a girl coming of age online in a hypersexualized culture that has normalized extreme behavior, from pornography to the casual exchange of nude photographs; a culture filled with a new strain of sexism and a sometimes self-undermining notion of feminist empowerment; a culture in which teenagers are spending so much time on technology and social media that they are not developing basic communication skills.

Juvenile Justice Vision 20/20 is a grassroots, statewide organization that serves as a collective voice on issues of juvenile justice and provides leadership and advocacy for the Michigan juvenile justice community. Training on juvenile justice issues is held every June and October. Registration for this conference plus more information about the book signing can be found online. 

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