Miss G Girls II

On to part II. Quotes.
"... four enthusiastic thinkers on a mission. And it is this: to get women's studies onto the high school curriculum ... we're thinking big. we're thinking long-term. This is no summer project for us." After one of the four brings a "Baby Girl, or Sex Toy tube top from her bag, the question arises "Where are the countervailing influences for girls and young women moving through the school system? Why does the prevailing role model in celebrity culture appear to be the (dumb-chick, shopping-mall) Paris Hilton?"

These girls notice the "lack of self-esteem among young women, the rivalry that too often seems to mark their relationships (versus camaraderie among boys), the [scarcity] of women in the existing curriculum, the missed opportunity for intellectual engagement." Yes. I know this. You know what I find most conducive for this camaraderie? Anger outlets, believe it or not. Through sports, mostly. When I was involved in karate, or hockey, I was able to channel my need to exert. When I was doing this, I found that I was able to be much calmer in my relationships with other girls. Catty? Comes from not having anywhere to let out your anger in a productive, fun, camaraderie kind of way.

"Young girls are no different from boys in their need for physical exertion. I find women's fainting spells a direct result from women being indoors all day bent over their needlework confined in restrictive corsets." This is a quote from Little Women with Susan Sarandon.

This is interesting: "the fantastic four have launched their mission with fearsome precision: Miss G. chapters have been launched at the University of Windsor, and Wilfred Laurier and Waterloo; sequential meetings have been had with various representatives of the ministry of education, including a get-together last week with a member of the ministry's curriculum assessment policy division. Not surprisingly, ... the group [does not] believe that pushing for locally developed course options is the answer. We want the Ministry of Education to make a statement that gender equity and women's issues are a priority within the Ontario government."

Yes. That's a statement that needs to be made. I am just concerned that it might turn out to be a "now you have your program, we are politically correct, and don't ask for anything else that would take any work" statement from the government.

One of the girls, Shkordoff makes the point "you're an active citizen. Call your MPP. A side effect of this is to encourage active citizenship." That's another good thing.

And the point Mohan makes is also quite true from the point of the psychology of learning and what behavioural traits are developed in girls by a certain age: "If you're waiting until university, it's too late. It has to be done at an earlier point in time." Exactly.

So, for us adults and young women to be politically active; that's excellent, that's what's supposed to happen with us, that's what we are supposed to do.

But not everyone is political, and there are so many avenues to approach this with. Girl Guides, through to Pathfinders. New Moon magazine. Hockey, or any SPORTS for girls. Girl's clubs in the school system. An IBM tech camp.

Things to get girls out and moving about; things to make them sweat and think.
Things to develop problem solving skills, and the awareness of the power they have to become active in their world.
If girls have these countervailing influences to those of the media, we may just have less anorexic fashion fluff-brains prancing around our city.