03 January 2012

girls + changes, or Holly dyed her hair...

"The myth of female frailty tells us that when a young woman starts exploring her dark side, she’s begun down a very dangerous road that could have life-damaging consequences. Obviously, if she starts shooting heroin, that’s true. But Holly — like so many other teen girls whose fascination with darkness is made manifest — isn’t doing anything life-threatening. She’s started reading Kerouac and Inga Muscio instead of Vogue and Seventeen, she’s getting showered and dressed and out of the house in less than half the time it took her a year before. This is healthy as can be — and yet it’s genuinely terrifying to many of the folks around her. Fed by a culture that falls all over itself with (often faux) expressions of concern about teen girls, many of her friends — and some of the adults in her life — are scared that Holly’s gonna “do something stupid now” and “ruin her life.”"

An excerpt from Hugo Schwyzer's inspirin blogpost Holly dyed her hair: more on myths of female frailty, our fear of women's anger, and what happens when the truth comes out

And as further reading I can certainly suggest Eve Ensler's book I Am an Emotional Creature
(as we all have seen the I ♥ Being a Girl video)

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