Anna Toumazoff dusts off the "Girls Dictionary"

This is a book that you may have received at Christmas or for your birthday, the cover filled with sequins and flowers:

, published from 2002 by Fleurus editions, was an institution for a whole generation of teenage girls.

But beneath the stained pages are definitions filled with

and guilt-ridden talk about teenage girls' desires and ways of dressing.

Abortion is considered immoral there, and masturbation is "a poor practice": pages that make you grimace when you read them again in 2022.

In 2022, fortunately, teenagers can now count on a whole generation of authors who are trying to change mentalities.

Activist Anna Toumazoff is one of them: she published the book

.

A non-gendered and benevolent version of this famous

, adapted to today's teenagers, which talks about mental health, complexes, sexuality, addiction.

We caught up with her to ask her what it meant, to create a new generation teen dictionary.

How did you come up with the idea for this book?

at my parents ' house,

which dated from 2005: I reread lots of pages and lots of elements with which I had grown up, which I had taken at face value, which gave me keys subjects that I did not discuss with my parents, and which were very problematic.

There are things that were homophobic or racist, and more insidious things about the relationship to the body, whether it's hairiness, weight, height... But also the relationship to other girls, and the lack of sisterhood that it offered , with the idea that the other woman is a rival.

So I said to myself that it was a good idea to redo a work of this type but really progressive, which helps people.

Le Dico des filles

Of course, these books were an institution, they were big books with glitter, they were sort of the gift by definition that we gave you at Christmas and on birthdays… And above all, we were going to give it to you. put back in the hands in "well you ask more questions, you have all the answers inside".

Because it was really made for teenage girls, it had a very silly tone despite being written by a grown woman.

I think a lot of parents thought they were doing the right thing, but we ended up with this thing in our hands, which was supposed to give us all the advice on all aspects of life, to grow well.

And the parents did not see the quagmire that it could be!

And that's why I insist a lot on the fact that my book, I would like it to be read by parents, by grandparents,

How was the writing?

Did you enjoy playing the role of big sister while writing it?

It was fun to write because it was structured, it was super interesting to choose the words!

For example, for me, there were words that were so important, such as consent, that I didn't make a chapter of them but put them everywhere.

You have it in the chapter on sexuality, but also in everything dealing with human relations.

I enjoyed writing that, and taking on that role.

Afterwards, I put pressure on myself because I remembered how much, when you're little, you take at face value what's written in a book written by an adult.

So there was a real mission for me, I took it super seriously.

YOUR LIFE WITHOUT FILTER, THE NEW DICO OF TEENS (and 20aires, 30aires, because you yourself know that the state of adult is a roleplay) 💝

April 15 in your bookstores and already in pre-reservation!

pic.twitter.com/yooG8hs3kt

— Anna Toumazoff (@AnnaToumazoff) March 25, 2022

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There are a hundred definitions, including new ones like “social media”, “veganism”, “gender identity”…

We were obliged to update it in what speaks to young people today.

In the old dictionaries, there was “television” for example.

And even if they are going to consume television content via computer, tablet, whatever, it seemed more relevant to me to talk about series, Netflix.

And then even go a lot more on the emotions.

For example, mental health, I did tons of it, but because it was necessary for me.

I said to myself: “Do I do a chapter on depression, one on anxieties, and then a chapter on mental health?

But I found that a little stigmatizing for certain mental illnesses like bipolarity, schizophrenia, and it evaded the fact that depression was an illness too.

I wanted to make an overall mental health entry, which put all these diseases together, and which also deals with how to take good care of your mental health.

I also wanted to highlight the spectrum side: even if at some point we go through very difficult times, we can also get better.

Is this a book for girls only?

Whether in terms of anatomy or emotions, I wanted everyone to be able to feel concerned by any subject, and to be able to pick up what he or she wants.

For me it was obvious not to gender the terms, to be as neutral as possible, because it's natural for me that we write like that.

Afterwards, it's an exercise in style: I talk a lot in familiar terms, I say "people who", "people who"... It's not against inclusive writing, but I thought of all the young people who are neuroatypical, and to all those who are not basic French speakers, or to their parents/grandparents.

I wanted the writing to be as fluid as possible.

In your tone, you speak to teenagers like the adults of tomorrow, not like children… Do you have faith in the coming generation?

It's necessary !

Even in the generations that precede us, it's just that intellectual honesty is needed and that's what is perhaps lacking in the generations before us: to consider that what we bring to you, in terms By the way, even if we're young, it can be just as interesting.

And this generation, it will do something, of course.

Let's just say that I wouldn't like to be in their shoes, because we already have it complicated having lived in our twenties with all these stories of confinement that have shot everyone down, of wars, of social, political and everything… But they are in the midst of initial construction throughout this period.

It's very hard but I try to put my stone in the building to be able to help teenagers on this.

And remind them that life is complicated, but it will be okay.

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