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Professor Hilary Levey Friedman is a sociologist and expert on afterschool activities, beauty pageants, childhood socialization, and popular culture who teaches courses in the Department of Education at Brown University. She holds degrees from Harvard University, Princeton University, and the University of Cambridge.

Hilary is currently pursuing a JD at the Roger Williams University School of Law as a Presidential Scholar, where she is a member of the Law Review, Moot Court Board, and Honors Program.

In August 2020 Beacon Press released her new book, Here She Is: The Complicated Reign of the Beauty Pageant in America, which uses beauty pageants to trace the arc of American feminism from the 1840s to the present. Click to find out moreโ€” including how to purchase a signed copy! A paperback version was released on August 24, 2021.

Her first book, Playing to Win: Raising Children in a Competitive Culture followed 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 often speaks to parent groups on this topic.

Dr. Levey Friedman was the President of the Rhode Island chapter of the National Organization for Women (RI NOW) from 2018-2021 and also a volunteer Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA).