Biography

Prof. Hilary Levey Friedman is a sociologist and expert on beauty pageants, childhood and parenting, competitive afterschool activities, and popular culture who teaches in the Department of American Studies at Brown University.
Her book, Playing to Win: Raising Children in a Competitive Culture, follows families with elementary school-age children involved in chess, dance, and soccer covering the history of the activities, what they mean to parents and children, and implications for inequality and gender in the educational system.
She is also the Book Review editor at Brain, Child Magazine and an advisor with the National Council on Youth Sports Safety.
Dr. Levey Friedman can intelligently comment on stories about topics including afterschool activities, the American family, beauty pageants, competition, competitive sports, dance competitions, reality television, parenting, scholastic chess, working children, and youth sports injuries. She holds degrees from Harvard University, Princeton University, and the University of Cambridge.