(Translating Soon into Woman-power)
Sunday’s New York Times reviewed Dan Kindlon’s Alpha Girls. I bought it yesterday, the same day I offered a long Post on the Women-Boomer-Geezer thing. One of my key points was that “womanpower” (“womenomics,” per one observer) is going through the roof. Kindlon adds to that stunning tale. He argues that girls are no longer being kept on as short a leash as in the past. Among many other interesting points, Dads are taking the lead in pushing girls to the fore and urging them to take no guff from boys. Frankly, 10 years into intensely studying “all this,” I am mesmerized by this notion of rapid, exponentially increasing womanpower. Here’s Kindlon’s opening paragraph:
“Not long ago I was talking with a group of girls at Greenfield High, in northern New Jersey, about Mary Pipher’s bestselling book, Reviving Ophelia. … The girls’ reaction to Ophelia was one of confusion. They disagreed with the book’s premise—that girls are robbed of vitality and self-esteem as they enter adolescence. According to Pipher, our sexist society causes girls ‘to stifle their creative spirit and natural impulses, which ultimately destroys their self-esteem.’ ‘Who are the girls in this book?’ asked Sarah, a Greenfield sophomore. ‘I mean, I feel sorry for them, but they’re pretty much losers. We’re not at all like them.’ From what I could see, she was right. The girls I met were vital. They appeared more confident than many of the boys. They had not ‘lost their voice.’ … They neither feared competition from boys nor the consequences of out-performing them.”—Dan Kindlon, Alpha Girls