You may have noticed that quite a few quotes from Wendy Shalit’s Girls Gone Mild: Young Women Reclaim Self-Respect and Find It’s Not Bad to Be Good have shown up in my Sunday quote lists. That’s the thing about a good non-fiction book…there are so many quotable things.
I read Shalit’s book at the recommendation of my SIL. Shalit’s first book A Return to Modesty was the subject of a lot of controversy (who knew modesty was a controversial subject?), and this 2007 book contains a lot of the same themes.
Actually, not having read her first book, I’m not sure what the difference between the two books is. Girls Gone Mild is primarily about the immodesty found in and supported by our culture. She makes a decent argument for modesty (something that I support) from a secular viewpoint. Basically, she debunks the idea that taking off your clothes is the ultimate show of confidence. No arguments here.
But I’m not sure she goes about it in the best way. She spends what I believe to be too much time merely detailing all the examples of outrageous immodesty, like ridiculously explicit sexual advice to tweens and teenagers.
Most of her research took place in 2006, a year after I graduated from college. While I have seen and am not surprised by a lot of her examples, some that she purports are representative of college culture in America sound nothing like what I saw on my college campus only a year earlier. Sure hooking up was big at OU, but co-ed bathrooms and roommates were strictly forbidden and for the most part followed (I lived in the dorms all 4 years). I think making a huge deal out of minor examples actually weakens her case.
While I would have enjoyed Girls Gone Mild more if she focused more on her thesis and didn’t spend so much time in the evidence, I really enjoyed the interviews she did with the women and girls who have become public figures primarily because of their support of modesty.
The paperback version of this book goes by the name The Good Girl Revolution (which I do think might be a better title). I’d recommend checking out Wendy Shalit’s writings. If you’ve read anything by her before, what did you think?
I’ll have to try to track down a copy of this book. I would be interested in reading her arguments from a secular viewpoint of the modesty issue, as so many books on this topic are written by Christians and often miss the mainstream market as they are perceived to have a religious bias and be irrelevant to non-Christians.
Thanks for the recommendation.
I love the concept of this book! I am a modest person but college was pretty crazy for other girls. I would probably encourage people with older girls to read this with their kids.
Wow! It’s good to see books like this out there. A shame it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be, but I’m still happy more books like this are becoming available to young girls.
What an interesting sounding book. I’ve certainly walked the line between modesty and being a little too wild throughout my life. I think I’m starting to come down on the side of modest (to my own standards) but I imagine most people would have always classified me as a ‘good girl’.
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This is definitely a touchy subject. Another thing that really bothers me is how common place illegal drug references are. It drives me absolutely crazy that singers and TV shows and the media in general can portray using drugs as fun and exciting. Hello? It’s illegal. But no – none of the consequences are ever shown. Just the fun part. Gah. The things that our society portrays for the children of this country make me sick.
Also, about modesty. I am interested to know what her (or your) definition of modesty is. I grew up in a very strict home where showing your shoulders was immodest. So now when I dare to don a tank top I still feel a little bit guilty and hope I don’t run into any one who knows me.
At my husband’s school that had co-ed dorms, but separate bathrooms.
Sorry I’m chatty Cathy today.
Carrie: This is actually not the kind of book you’d read with your children/teenagers. It’s full of outrageously immodest examples, so I don’t think that that would be helpful. But it would be something to read if you had girls.
Jessica: I think that when we portray addictive substances as “fun” we’re doing others a disservice. I’d include under-age drinking in this.
But I think modesty is a bit different. When a TV show shows illegal drug use, it’s fake. But when they show a stripper or sex scene, the nudity is real.