Says you, sister

Vanessa at Feministing found an interesting article on the BBC News site. It purports to be about a rise in violence among girls. I say, "purports to be," because five paragraphs in, we get

Statistically, an increase in numbers of offences of violence and disorder involving girls is hard to prove.

But...

Rephrased: This may or may not be true, but we think it's a jolly exciting story, so we're going to write about it anyway.

They quote a Dr Sally Henry, who blames it on, wait for it...

Dr Henry said: "It's a bit like the Spice Girls' 'girl power' thing. Kicking and lashing out is seen as a way of empowering yourself, but it's not.

Dr Henry also says things like that the only way to save these poor misbegotten waifs is,

"You need to get to them at 10 and 11 years old to educate them about what it means to be a girl"

Now, as we know, I'm not one. But speaking as someone who spends a signifigant amount of his time trying to think like a girl-to write them-I'm gonna go way out on a limb here: By age 10 and 11, I suspect most females already know what it means to be a girl. Any of you ladies wanna back me up?

For obvious, good and sufficent reasons Vanessa is chiefly concerned with this story in terms of disempowering women and otherwise making them feel bad. But being-despite everything in the last paragraph-a boy, what caught my attention is that the good doctor doesn't seem to think much of us, either:

"And it's not a way of attracting boys either like some girls might think. Boys might find aggressive women in music videos attractive, but they don't want to take them home and marry them."

Says you, sister! I'd marry a girl like Chloe from 24 (back when she was still Chloe, but that's another post) in a second.

Or Topanga from Boy Meets World-she just grabs Cory, puts him up against his locker, and gives him his first kiss. Swoon.

Heck, I could probably even be ensnared by Christina Ricci's character in The Opposite of Sex (though, I grant you, that probably wouldn't end well...).