D. Lacy Asbill is the founding director of Girls Moving Forward, a holistic
tutoring and mentoring organization dedicated to fostering girls' academic
growth and self-esteem. You can learn more about Lacy and Girls Moving Forward at http://www.girlsmovingforward.com.

My degree in Human Sexuality Studies helped facilitate my "sociological
imagination": I learned that problems that feel very personal are guided by
strong social forces. This kind of imagination allows me to understand why
almost every girl I sit down with lacks confidence in her math skills,
or why parents feel helpless when their daughters lose self-confidence during adolescence. Even though these feel like individuals failings or concerns, I can see how strongly social messages influence girls' development over their lives.