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The cult of the mean girl
TORONTO STAR ^ | Mar. 5, 2006 | LESLIE SCRIVENER

Posted on 03/06/2006 9:51:00 PM PST by tbird5

It happens to the best of women. Here's Rosalind Wiseman, who has spent her entire working life teaching girls to treat each other decently. The script for the movie Mean Girls was based on her 2002 best-selling Queen Bees & Wannabes, a book that helps parents understand the drama and danger in the adolescent girl world. She knows the minefields that lie in gossip, jealousy, disloyalty and cruel judgments, and offers solid prescriptions for changing bad behaviour.

Yet despite her experience, she recently found herself sizing up two mothers who came to see her.

In her view, the women paid too much attention to their appearance, especially their hair. They seemed catty in their conversation, were micromanaging their kids' lives, and were silly.

"All these things came into my head. Why? They are antithetical to what I teach and believe," Wiseman says. "I was still judging these women."

Where does this nastiness come from?

Wiseman thinks it exists because it's supposed to exist. Being nasty to each other is one of the unspoken rules about how girls and women are supposed to behave; one of the rigidly enforced North American standards of what constitutes femininity.

"It's everything you know but haven't been sat down and taught," as Wiseman puts it.

When she judged the two women so harshly, it was as if she was acting out one of the observations she made in her book — that girls and women can be their own worst enemies.

(Excerpt) Read more at thestar.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: psychology
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To: Xenalyte; Hap
My closest female friends, with the exception of Hap whom I met before I got here, are on FR.

You ROCK, Xenalyte and so does Hap.

By the way, I'm still working on you-know-what and I'll try to shoot you an update tomorrow.

Night-night!

281 posted on 03/07/2006 1:41:37 PM PST by Allegra (Please pray for peace in Iraq.)
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To: najida; Hoodlum91

It's only Tuesday!!

We're getting pretty good at this...


282 posted on 03/07/2006 1:41:52 PM PST by RockinRight (Attention RNC...we're the party of Reagan, not FDR...)
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To: RockinRight

283 posted on 03/07/2006 1:41:55 PM PST by handk (The truth is the truth even if no one believes it, and a lie is a lie even if everyone believes it.)
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To: feinswinesuksass

ROFLMAO!!


284 posted on 03/07/2006 1:42:27 PM PST by Allegra (Please pray for peace in Iraq.)
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To: Toby06

yes, sir, I did.

still trying to figure which flavor I am...strawberry maybe...chocolate...a fine wine... .

No need to comment. Let me enjoy my moment.


285 posted on 03/07/2006 1:42:35 PM PST by peacebaby
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To: handk

Get a life...


286 posted on 03/07/2006 1:43:08 PM PST by RockinRight (Attention RNC...we're the party of Reagan, not FDR...)
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To: PaulaB
I am glad I suck sir

Oh dear heavens! SNORT~! I'm choking on an orange peel as I type!!!

287 posted on 03/07/2006 1:43:11 PM PST by najida (Me arguing for logic and against emotion is like Mother Teresa becoming a pole dancer.)
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To: feinswinesuksass

Nice reply!!!


288 posted on 03/07/2006 1:44:30 PM PST by RockinRight (Attention RNC...we're the party of Reagan, not FDR...)
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To: Calpernia

Wow! You know how to cook, I'm impressed. :-)


289 posted on 03/07/2006 1:44:44 PM PST by wagglebee ("We are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom." -- President Bush, 1/20/05)
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To: peacebaby; handk
You must be single and lonely.

He's just got "loser" written all over him, doesn't he?

Maybe he's got "I'm-still-stuck-in-the-closet" issues?

290 posted on 03/07/2006 1:44:55 PM PST by Allegra (Please pray for peace in Iraq.)
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To: Allegra

He's probably just upset that his mommy still keeps his "family jewels" in her jewelry box.


291 posted on 03/07/2006 1:46:59 PM PST by RockinRight (Attention RNC...we're the party of Reagan, not FDR...)
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To: cgk
It's only ok if it's near a large vat of jello, or pudding.
292 posted on 03/07/2006 1:46:59 PM PST by Ukiapah Heep (Shoes for Industry!)
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To: Allegra

I just don't understand why he's been around FR since what...1999 or 2000... I just glanced at his profile, forgot it as soon as I clicked off.


293 posted on 03/07/2006 1:47:09 PM PST by peacebaby
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To: handk

Maybe you need some new pick up lines? Try these:

"Can I buy you a drink or do you just want the money?"

"Inheriting eighty million bucks doesn't mean much when you have a weak heart."

"I can sense that you're a terrific lover, and it intimidates me a little."

"If you were a booger I'd pick you first."


294 posted on 03/07/2006 1:50:05 PM PST by Feiny ( "Why don't we go up to the old people's home and wax the steps? " ~ Barney Fife)
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To: Ukiapah Heep

NOW we're talking!


295 posted on 03/07/2006 1:50:10 PM PST by RockinRight (Attention RNC...we're the party of Reagan, not FDR...)
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To: handk

ooohhh, you prefer foreign women.
This should sound familar:

"Me so hoooorrrrneeee, me love you long time."


296 posted on 03/07/2006 1:52:34 PM PST by Feiny ( "Why don't we go up to the old people's home and wax the steps? " ~ Barney Fife)
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To: handk
American women suck.

Only to you. We all made a pact.

297 posted on 03/07/2006 1:54:16 PM PST by Millee (Don't make me get out my voodoo doll out!)
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To: peacebaby
"American women suck"

Yeah, but do they... wait, I better not. Never mind.
298 posted on 03/07/2006 1:56:18 PM PST by Maximus of Texas (On my signal, pull my finger)
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To: Search4Truth
Do men ever learn.

Apparently not, in my case.

After 27 years of marriage, I'm sorely out of practice.

299 posted on 03/07/2006 1:57:42 PM PST by TC Rider (The United States Constitution © 1791. All Rights Reserved.)
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To: gogeo; handk
I agree about the sweeping generalizations. My wife is a sweetie to work for, but she says some women are b!ches.

Oh, and I so agree with that.

I'm the boss in my department and my employees have expressed anxiety that I'll get a promotion and leave them. I have to assure them regularly that I won't leave them anytime soon. They're worried they'll get a b!tch or a jerk in my place. (I'm a soft-hearted one...as long as they're doing the work I expect, I'm pretty easy. We're all FRIENDS. We're a team.)

On the other hand, my Admin Assistant is a royal b!tch and I've been told I'm the only person who has ever been able to "tame" her. She is despised all over my whole location here. I inherited her from my predecessor, who also couldn't stand her.

And handK - she's one of your pecious Eastern Europeans.

300 posted on 03/07/2006 1:58:25 PM PST by Allegra (Please pray for peace in Iraq.)
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