Contact: Pamela McClure, 615.595.8321
Who Will Shape Your Daughter’s Views on Sex?
Author Helps Moms And Daughters Talk About Sex, Emotions, and Integrity
FACT: Parents aren’t talking about sex.
According to a 2002 national survey of 15- to 17-year-olds, one in four girls who have had sex say their parents don’t know about it. Of all teens surveyed, half had never had a conversation with a parent about how to know when a person is ready to have sex.
FACT: Parents can impact their teenagers’ sexual choices.
Another national survey reported in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) revealed that adolescents who reported feeling connected to parents and family were more likely than other teens to delay initiating sexual intercourse.
It’s a sad fact, but most parents are bailing out on their daughters. The surveys cited above make it clear that parents are missing the opportunity to impact their teens’ views on sexuality. Why? According to bestselling author Shannon Ethridge, the excuses are many (from sheer terror to sheer ignorance). Ethridge hopes to reduce the use of one excuse: her latest book, Preparing Your Daughter for Every Woman’s Battle (WaterBrook Press, June 2005), is designed to help mothers and daughters connect on this vital topic.
Ethridge’s new book, part of the bestselling Every Woman’s Battle series, has been crafted to guide mothers and daughters into discussions about sexual and emotional integrity. Shannon Ethridge—best-selling author, speaker, mother of two, and lay counselor with Teen Mania—has a heart for helping young women avoid sexual mistakes.
“Sexuality education isn’t a one-time lecture or even a series of conversations to get your daughter through puberty,” writes Ethridge. “It’s a lifelong process of both parents and daughters learning, growing, maturing, struggling, resisting, and at times, unfortunately, failing. I pray this book will give your daughter a tremendous jump-start toward becoming the young woman God wants her to be.”
Preparing Your Daughter for Every Woman’s Battle contains two unique sections. The first section is for moms (or single-parent dads), and answers basic questions about their daughters’ sexuality:
· “Am I telling too much too soon?”
· “What if I find out she is already sexually active?”
· “How can I protect her from this sex-saturated society?”
· “What does the Bible say about a parent’s role in a girl’s sexual development?”
The second section of Preparing Your Daughter is written directly to teenage and pre-teen girls, filled with real-life examples, Biblical directives and honest dialogue. Ethridge makes this section practical for girls through creative exercises such as journaling, role play, open-ended questions, Bible study and parent-daughter quizzes.
Stephen Arterburn, who penned book’s foreword, wishes Preparing Your Daughter had been around when his own daughter was young, “When my daughter was nine or ten, we had devotions every morning before school. I did my best to prepare her for the coming adolescent years, but there was nothing I found that handled sex in a relevant, non-shaming, Biblically-sound manner. This book does. Shannon has taken her own experiences growing up and combined those with how she raised her own daughter to give all of us parents a great tool in equipping and protecting our little girls.”
Preparing Your Daughter For Every Woman’s Battle is the seventh title in the Every Woman’s Battle series (WaterBrook Press). Shannon Ethridge authored the original title, Every Woman’s Battle, in 2003, and the book has appeared on both CBA and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists. Ethridge coauthored another bestseller, Every Young Woman’s Battle (with Stephen Arterburn), in 2004. These titles for women are part of a larger product group (Every Man, WaterBrook Press) which has sold more than 1.5 million copies to date.
WaterBrook Press is incorporating a multi-faceted marketing campaign for Preparing Your Daughter. National print advertisements have already targeted trade publications and consumer ads will appear this summer in Today’s Christian Woman, Marriage Partnership and Christian Parenting Today. A national publicity campaign is in full swing, offering excerpts and author interviews to publications as well as radio and television programs. Ethridge will appear on the cover of Today’s Christian Woman, with a feature interview addressing sexual integrity for women, in the June/July 2005 issue.
Shannon Ethridge is the best-selling author of Every Woman’s Battle and coauthor of Every Young Woman’s Battle, as well as a wife, mother, speaker, and lay counselor. Previously a youth pastor and abstinence educator, Shannon has a master's degree in counseling/human relations and speaks regularly on the Teen Mania Ministries campus as well as other church and college settings. Shannon lives in East Texas with her husband Greg and their two children, Erin and Matthew.
WaterBrook Press (www.waterbrookpress.com) was launched in September 1996 as an autonomous religious publishing division of Random House Inc., the largest publisher in the world. Since the release of its first books in February 1998, WaterBrook’s publishing program has grown dramatically and now includes such best-selling and well-respected authors as Dr. Dan Allender, Steve Arterburn, Kay Arthur, Jerry Bridges, T. Davis Bunn, Dr. Larry Crabb, Nicky Cruz, Os Guinness, Liz Curtis Higgs, and Jane Kirkpatrick. WaterBrook Press is committed to publishing a broad spectrum of books that provide Christians encouragement, support, and challenge in every aspect of life.
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March 2005
Published by WaterBrook Press, a division of Random House
www.shannonethridge.com www.everywomansbattle.com
Release date: June 2005 ISBN: 1-4000-7005-8 Format: trade paper Page Count: 240
Category: Youth Interests/Christian Living/Sex Price: $13.99
Interviews available: Pamela McClure, pamela@mmpublicrelations.com, 615.595.8321