Joyce McFadden – Supporting the integrity of women and girls

Talking To Our Daughters
About Sexuality

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In this video, hear what daughters say they need from their mothers when it comes to learning about their sexuality, and learn how much more honest they want us to be throughout our lives together. The mother-daughter relationship isn’t static—it changes over the years. And we don’t really cross a line into being sexual, or in becoming a woman. It’s a gradual process, and both young and adult daughters are asking for our help along the way.

About The Book

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Based on my study of 450 women and drawing on almost 1,300 of their responses, Modern Mothering (the re-issuing of Your Daughter’s Bedroom: Insights for Raising Confident Women with a new title and cover) offers a new and unprecedented look at the mother-daughter bond. “[McFadden’s] intended goal was to create a companion piece to the classic Our Bodies, Ourselves. Mission accomplished.”–Kirkus Review

Reader Reviews >

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Learn About The Original Study

In The News: Oprah Magazine

In The News:
NY Times Article

At Huffington Post

AT MCNALLY JACKSON BOOKS

Very honored to be in discussion with Dr. Jessica Zucker celebrating the launch of her honest and profound memoir I Had a Miscarriage: a Memoir, a Movement. Click image or here to view YouTube video.

ON NPR

“Shame, guilt, and blame” are all common feelings after losing a pregnancy, says therapist @Joyce_McFadden. What does it mean to miscarry? And for something so common, why don’t we talk about it more?
Listen to Joyce >

At The United Nations

Joyce addresses American girls’ experience on this UN panel on girls’ puberty and confidence with representatives of WHO, UNESCO, UNICEF and Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. Click For More.

About Joyce McFadden

BIG NEWS FOR SUMMER 2018! YDB IS GOING TO BE RE-ISSUED WITH A NEW TITLE AND COVER. MODERN MOTHERING: What Daughters Say They Need from Their Mothers Regarding Sexual Development and Its Impact on Self Worth WILL BE AVAILABLE SOON. STAY TUNED!

The Wing screening and panel discussion of the wondrous Bo Burnham film Eighth Grade with stars Elsie Fisher and Emily Robinson.

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Reviews

"McFadden offers insight and honesty in a discussion of the healthy ways mothers can help their daughters grow comfortable and knowledgable about their sexuality...There are hurdles to cross and backs to be straightened when it comes to this topic, but daughters need their mothers, and it's time they heard their voices. An empowering resource for mothers and daughters everywhere."
—Kirkus Reviews

"A fascinating and empowering text for women of all ages."
—Publishers Weekly

"I couldn't put it down. This book is a revolution in mindful caring for girls. It tells us how to dispel our own mother/daughter myths and how to realize and support our girls in the recognition and celebration of their sexual selves to gain lifelong physical and mental happiness. This is THE book I would recommend to all my mothers of girls and to all their doctors, teachers and therapists. I wish I had this book when I started in pediatric practice 20 years ago: from it I've learned that I missed so many opportunities to nurture my female patients as females growing into themselves. I love this book."
—Barbara H. Landreth, M.D., Clinical Instructor in Pediatrics, Weill Cornell Medical College, Pediatrician, The New York-Presbyterian Hospital

"What an amazing and insightful guide for mothers facing the huge challenge of supporting their daughters amidst the many "hate your body" media messages that assault all of us daily."
—Judy Norsigian, co-author of OUR BODIES, OURSELVES

"Your Daughter's Bedroom is loaded with the kind of insight, wisdom, and practical advice that all mothers need to know to raise healthy daughters who are comfortable with their own sexuality. I highly recommend it!"
—Christiane Northrup, M.D., ob/gyn physician and author of the New York Times bestsellers: WOMEN'S BODIES, WOMEN'S WISDOM and THE WISDOM OF MENOPAUSE

"Using thousands of intimate interviews with women Joyce McFadden argues that –despite ourselves and inadvertently—sexism comes, in part, from the unhealthy messages we send our daughters about sex and behavior. A groundbreaking look at sexuality, mothers, daughters, and the myriad subtle ways one generation of women shapes the next."
—Jennifer Baumgardner, author of MANIFESTA, LOOK BOTH WAYS and ABORTION & LIFE

"In this important book Joyce McFadden shows how mothers affect their daughters' sense of self through the sort of sexuality they model as well as their explicit communications and exhortations. It's an honest, surprising and compelling look at this crucial contemporary dilemma."
—Jessica Benjamin, Professor of Psychology, New York University, author of THE BONDS OF LOVE

"An important book that gets at the heart of the mother and daughter bond and finally explodes the myth that women have to turn themselves into sexless Stepford wives to be good mothers. Expansive, honest, informed, and real."
—Deborah Siegel, author of SISTERHOOD, INTERRUPTED

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More Information
At Huffington Post
About The Book
In The News:
NY Times Article
In The News: Oprah Magazine
Learn About The Original Study
Talking To Our Daughters About Sexuality

About Joyce

Joyce McFadden is a psychoanalyst and author of the groundbreaking book Your Daughter’s Bedroom: Insights for Raising Confident Women. Based on her unprecedented study of 450 women, in which women could talk about whatever was important to them, it was the women of her study who determined the book’s topic: how girls learn about sexuality from their mothers.

© Joyce McFadden 2025

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