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Laura Lovett, co-editor (with Lori Rotskoff) of When We Were Free to Be: Looking Back at a Children’s Classic and the Difference It Made (University of North Carolina Press, 2012), takes in in depth look at Marlo Thomas’s groundbreaking Free to Be…You and Me albumThrough a series of reflections from various people with personal connections to the album, When We Were Free to Be, highlights the impact the album made on the children of America as they grew up in the 70’s.  Free to Be…You and Me questioned the enforcement of gender norms and encouraged children to embrace themselves fully.  It called for the release of the restraints of society that pressure boys to be insensitive and strong and for girls to be emotional and submissive.  Laura Lovett’s and her coeditor Lori Rotskoff’s work highlights the importance of this radical album and calls for more attention to the ever-relevant issue of child gender stereotyping.

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