"every profession requires special training. besides special powers and talents, besides special instruction, we may almost say that it requires special virtues. the virtues most needful for a successful physician are not precisely those required for a successful lawyer. one will have patience with the body of a man; the other will have patience with his ways. from both of these, a soldier differs in almost every particular; perhaps he most of all needs to be patient with himself."
-spiritual excellence by alban goodier s.j.
the plain fact is that girls today have to be "bad" to fit in, just as the baby boomers needed to be good. and we are finding that this new script may be more oppressive than the old one ever was. the psychologist nina shandler offers a shrewd insight: "the conformist mentality has been resurrected from the fifties-only today the badges of belonging have a higher price tag." consider how girls today need to be thin, available, and always sexy. at the same time they are supposed to have no hopes, no messy feelings, no vulnerability. they must be aggressive, yet somehow inviting. it's complicated, and to rebel against the new bad-girl script takes enormous confidence. but, as i learned, it can be done.
- the good girl revolution by wendy shalit
this is an old post- that was a draft i went back and read and thought i'd share.
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