Girl Women and Femininity Quotes

This is the first of the long list of stuff that girls have to do. It's a lot of stuff, and it starts with cleaning clothes—and specifically, cleaning clothes in the right way, to avoid colors bleeding onto each other. Hm, sounds like purity is going to be a big deal.

This means two things a) someone is always watching girls, and b) girls have a responsibly to look nice to that someone. So we guess this means no more lounging around in our pj's and shoveling Baked Lays into our mouths?

What exactly does it mean to "walk like a lady?" (And is it anything like walking like an Egyptian?) Apparently, you aren't just born a lady—you also have to become one.

Okay so your clothes are clean and dry. Did you think you were done? Nope! Now it's time to mend and maintain them. It's not easy looking this ladylike.

Already, Girl is learning that it is her job to take care of the men in her life, starting with her father and probably going on to her future husband and sons. (Not to mention some annoying little brothers along the way.)

Clothes are clean and mended, now it's time to clean the house! Is there anything that girls don't have to clean? What's next, the BP oil spill?

Whew, that's a lot of smiling. Notice that girls are expected to smile to everyone regardless of whether they like them or not. Think that's a relic of a different time and place? Nope: girls are still expected to smile more.

We only get mentions about men a few times in the text, so it's important to see what role they play. Here, it looks like part of being a girl is acting a certain way so that men don't judge you—or think they can expect something from you.

Okay, gross. But also, after all of Mom's lessons about how to clean and mend everything, she tells Girl that even she is part of the things that need to be kept spotless. Spit shine those knees!

Boys are allowed to do things that girls can't, even though the list of things a girl must do is much, much longer. Check out the word "squat": it's hard to tell if the forbidden activity is marbles, or just the squatting.