“What on earth do we have to complain about?”
The June 3, 2002, issue of Newsweek has a cover story entitled, “In Defense of Teen Girls” that discusses the current state of teen girls in light of two recent books, “Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls” and “Queen Bees and Wannabes.” This is an oversimplification on my part, I’m sure, but the books seem to portray most teen girls as mean-spirited and manipulative spoiled brats who “use backbiting, exclusion, rumors, name-calling, and manipulation to inflict physical pain on targeted victims.”
(Of course, that pretty much describes my life in Junior High School, too, although you’d have to add actual physical pain to the list since, as a boy, I didn’t have the luxury of non-violent nemeses.)
The Newsweek article tries to point out that there are a lot of teen girls who have avoided the pitfalls outlined in the books and who essentially have their heads screwed on straight. My favorite quote from one of these well-balanced “gamma girls” was:
“What on earth do we have to complain about? Everyone has at least one little thing, but compared to the rest of the world we are doing pretty dandy.”
Jennifer Teschler, 15
El Cajon, California
If nothing else, Jennifer’s use of the word “dandy” gives me hope for her generation.
Comments
Chris
I read a New York Times Magazine article about “Queen Bees and Wannabees” as well as an interview with the author on the drive back from Philadelphia in February. Really, jr. high girls are messed up in a much different way than boys. But a lot of the tactics and rules that the girls’ social clusters invent are exactly the same one being used by university sororities. It doesn’t end at high school. People are just mean-spirited at any age. They just hone their mean skills so it becomes much more subtle.