See Jane Help: The Powerful Message in Fonda’s New Book

Jane Fonda on the covers of Vogue (1959), Flaunt (2013), V Magazine (2010)

I have always admired Jane Fonda not only for her grace but for being an example of a woman with style and substance who truly gives back. An activist, philanthropist, environmentalist, fitness guru and movie star, she has just added one more significant item to her list of achievements – a book for teenagers.

Fonda, who has worked with teens around issues of sexuality, self-esteem and relationships for several decades, presented “Being A Teen: Everything Teen Girls & Boys Should Know About Relationships, Sex, Love, Health, Identity & More” on TODAY show this morning. She describes it as a much needed manual for being a teenager. We all know that being a teen is harder than ever before with cyber bullying and way too much exposure to what used to be considered adult material.

The idea behind the book is to try to teach teens a few lessons that most of us had to learn through experiences in our own lives or at the school of hard knocks. For example, one concept that struck me was that she wants to bring attention to the fact that no one teaches teens that what they should really look for in a partner/boyfriend/girlfriend is kindness – a simple but profoundly empowering concept. I will be ordering copies of this book today for the teenagers in my life and hey, you never know, maybe learn another thing or two from one our favorite VT icons! –Joe