Shame is a powerful emotion that convinces us that there is something is wrong with us. That we are defective in some way. Shame can tear us down and prevent us from reaching our highest potential. This book was designed to help children tackle this emotion and become free from Shame. It is made with parents, teachers, and counselors in mind. Together we will teach our children to grow and learn without shame.
NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE • A clear-eyed warning about the increasingly destructive influence of America’s “shame industrial complex” in the age of social media and hyperpartisan politics—from the New York Times bestselling author of Weapons of Math Destruction “O’Neil reminds us that we must resist the urge to judge, belittle, and oversimplify, and instead allow always for complexity and lead always with empathy.”—Dave Eggers, author of The Every Shame is a powerful and sometimes useful tool: When we publicly shame corrupt politicians, abusive celebrities, or predatory corporations, we reinforce values of fairness and justice. But as Cathy O’Neil argues in this revelatory book, shaming has taken a new and dangerous turn. It is increasingly being weaponized—used as a way to shift responsibility for social problems from institutions to individuals. Shaming children for not being able to afford school lunches or adults for not being able to find work lets us off the hook as a society. After all, why pay higher taxes to fund programs for people who are fundamentally unworthy? O’Neil explores the machinery behind all this shame, showing how governments, corporations, and the healthcare system capitalize on it. There are damning stories of rehab clinics, reentry programs, drug and diet companies, and social media platforms—all of which profit from “punching down” on the vulnerable. Woven throughout The Shame Machine is the story of O’Neil’s own struggle with body image and her recent weight-loss surgery, which awakened her to the systematic shaming of fat people seeking medical care. With clarity and nuance, O’Neil dissects the relationship between shame and power. Whom does the system serve? Is it counter-productive to call out racists, misogynists, and vaccine skeptics? If so, when should someone be “canceled”? How do current incentive structures perpetuate the shaming cycle? And, most important, how can we all fight back?
Drawing on a series of in-depth interviews illuminating the phenomenology of shame in the general public, Miller systematically explores the various dimensions of the shame experience. The complex relationships between shame and female sexual development, shame and phallic inhibition, and shame and orality are among the topics critically reexamined.
This book provides new ideas on how to work with and constructively transform shame on a theoretical and practical level, and in various socio-cultural contexts and professions. It provides practical guidelines on dealing with shame on the basis of reflection, counselling models, exercises, simulations, specific psychotherapeutic approaches, and auto-didactical learning material, so as to transform shame from a negatively experienced emotion into a mental health resource. The book challenges theorists to adopt an interdisciplinary stance and to think “outside the box.” Further, it provides practitioners, such as coaches, counsellors, therapists, trainers and medical personnel, with practical tools for transforming negative experiences and emotions. In brief, the book shows practitioners how to unlock the growth potential of individuals, teams, and organisations, allowing them to develop constructively and positively.
Young adult literature featuring LGBTQ+ characters is booming. In the 1980s and 1990s, only a handful of such titles were published every year. Recently, these numbers have soared to over one hundred annual releases. Queer characters are also appearing more frequently in film, on television, and in video games. This explosion of queer representation, however, has prompted new forms of longstanding cultural anxieties about adolescent sexuality. What makes for a good “coming out” story? Will increased queer representation in young people’s media teach adolescents the right lessons and help queer teens live better, happier lives? What if these stories harm young people instead of helping them? In Queer Anxieties of Young Adult Literature and Culture, Derritt Mason considers these questions through a range of popular media, including an assortment of young adult books; Caper in the Castro, the first-ever queer video game; online fan communities; and popular television series Glee and Big Mouth. Mason argues themes that generate the most anxiety about adolescent culture—queer visibility, risk taking, HIV/AIDS, dystopia and horror, and the promise that “It Gets Better” and the threat that it might not—challenge us to rethink how we read and engage with young people’s media. Instead of imagining queer young adult literature as a subgenre defined by its visibly queer characters, Mason proposes that we see “queer YA” as a body of transmedia texts with blurry boundaries, one that coheres around affect—specifically, anxiety—instead of content.
Joey, the MONSTER, thought it would all be easy. He would appear from under Sarah's bed, sneak upon her slowly and scare the DAYLIGHTS out of her. But unfortunately, he was VERY wrong. Sarah not only stopped him from scaring her, but she stopped him from ever scaring anyone again by telling Joey "NO," giving him some clothes, and taking him to her elementary school to teach him some MANNERS. In their first Children's Picture book, story-studio/publisher, Moodi Studios delivers an adorable, giggle-till-it's-over tale of friendship, forgiveness, and helping out a friend.
In a powerful debut novel author Rahela Nayebzadah introduces three unforgettable characters, Beh, Shabnam and Alif. In a world swirling with secrets, racism and a touch of magic we watch through the eyes of these three children as Nayebzadah's family of Afghan immigrants try to find their way in an often uncaring society. But as a sexual assault on thirteen-year-old Beh unleashes the past and destroys the family the reader is left wondering who is the monster child? Is it Beh, who says she is called a disease? Is it Shabnam, who cries tears of blood? Is it Alif, who in the end declares We are a family of monsters? Or are the monsters all around us?
This early work by Charles J. Finger was originally published in 1922 and we are now republishing it as part of our Cryptofiction Classics series. 'The Shame of Gold' is a short story about the dangers of searching the globe for treasure. The Cryptofiction Classics series contains a collection of wonderful stories from some of the greatest authors in the genre, including Ambrose Bierce, Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Jack London. From its roots in cryptozoology, this genre features bizarre, fantastical, and often terrifying tales of mythical and legendary creatures. Whether it be giant spiders, werewolves, lake monsters, or dinosaurs, the Cryptofiction Classics series offers a fantastic introduction to the world of weird creatures in fiction.
Darren Hayes was always a storyteller. Growing up in suburban Queensland in the 1970s, his vivid imagination offered an escape from the realities of his daily life. Among childhood trauma, domestic violence and relentless bullying, he told himself he was going to be a pop star – and he did it. But while Savage Garden achieved astonishing success, with multiple Australian number 1s, breaking into the US charts and selling over 35 million albums worldwide, the true story of Darren’s life was far more challenging than a three-minute pop song. In Unlovable, for the first time, Darren opens up about the hidden battles that shaped his journey. Behind the glamorous facade of success, he was facing anxiety and depression rooted in childhood trauma and violence, and navigating his sexuality in a world – and industry – that was not always accepting. This is not a memoir about the dizzying heights of fame; it’s a survivor’s story of enduring and overcoming profound lifelong scars. Told with Darren’s raw honesty and lyricism, Unlovable is a magical dark fairytale that reclaims the terrors and obstacles of his past, revealing the resilient and courageous person that he is today.
