“Raising a daughter is an extremely political act in this culture. Mothers have been placed in a no-win situation with their daught ers: if they teach their daughters simply how to get along in a world that has been shaped by men and male desires, then they betray their daughters' potential But, if they do not, they leave their daughters adrift in a hostile world without survival strategies.” IfsMenWorldHas BeensPoliticalMotherDesireCultureWinningSituationTeachSurvivalDaughterStrategyMalesBetrayHostileMother DaughterAdrift Author:Elizabeth Debold
“In some cultures they don't name their babies right away. They wait until they see how the child develops. Like in Dances with Wolves. Unfortunately, our kids' names would be less romantic and poetic. "This is my oldest boy, Falls off His Tricycle, his friend, Dribbles His Juice, and my beautiful daughter, Allergic to Nuts.” ChildrenWould BeKidsBeautifulFallCultureNamesWaitingBoysBabyDaughterPoeticNutsJuiceAllergicDribbleBeautiful DaughterTricycles Author:Paul Reiser
“Women themselves condition their daughters to serve the system of male primacy. If a daughter challenges it, the mother will generally defend the system rather than her daughter. These mothers, victims themselves, have unwittingly become wounded wounders. Women need to attack culture's oppression of women, for there truly is a godlike socializing power that induces women to "buy in" or collude, but we also need to confront our own part in accepting male dominance and take responsibility where appropriate.” IfsNeedsMotherCultureWomenChallengesResponsibilityAcceptingConditionsDaughterVictimMalesOppressionAppropriateWoundedTaking ResponsibilityDominanceGodlikeSocializingPrimacyMale Dominance Author:Sue Monk Kidd
“One encounters very capable fathers abashed by their piano-playing daughters. Three measures of Schumann make them red with embarrassment.” CultureThreeFatherCapableDaughterRedPianoEncountersEmbarrassmentPiano PlayingSchumann Author:Alfred Doblin
“Fathers are still considered the most important "doers" in our culture, and in most families they are that. Girls see them as thefamily authorities on careers, and so fathers' encouragement and counsel is important to them. When fathers don't take their daughters' achievements and plans seriously, girls sometimes have trouble taking themselves seriously.” StillsImportantSometimesCultureGirlFatherCareersPlansTroubleAuthorityAchievementDaughterEncouragementDoersThat Girl Book:Daughters: from infancy to independence Source: Daughters: from infancy to independence
“When my daughter left for college, I lost my in-house consultant to youth culture. There's just stuff I don't get. And there's something kind of pathetic about someone my age trying to pretend she gets it, so I don't try to pretend.” TryingKindAgeCultureHouseLostLeftStuffYouthCollegeDaughterMy DaughterPatheticConsultantsYouth Culture Author:Emily Yoffe
“I'm watching my own daughter grow up. I see this overt sexual culture coming at her like a Mack truck. She's in seventh grade.” CultureGrowsMy OwnGrowing UpDaughterGradesTruckSeventh GradeMackMack Trucks Author:Peggy Orenstein
“I'm not electronically geared at all; I'm really a 19th century cartoonist. I have a 15-year-old daughter, and what she's attracted to is of course iPod and this pod and that, I mean stuff I don't even begin to know - I never learned how to type for Christ's sake! I can't get in her head and find out what she would do if she had the kind of talent I had, I don't have a clue. Every generation comes up with its own quirkiness and its own culture which gets its inspiration from what's in the air at that time.” KindMeanInspirationCultureTalentDaughterClue19th CenturyCartoonist Author:Jules Feiffer
“One of the challenges is to create an equally positive, satisfying sense of femininity and feminine identity in a different way so that there are things you're saying yes to and satisfying that urge that your daughter has to be assert her girlness. The surface level of the culture, and really several inches into it, makes that very hard to do. I hate to put another thing on parents' plates. But the culture is very intentional in what it's telling your daughter and what it's telling you about the message of femininity. And if you're not intentional and conscious back, you lose.” DifferentHateCultureChallengesIdentityDaughterConsciousI HateFeminineFemininityOur Daughter Author:Peggy Orenstein
“If I could give you one thought, it would be to lift someone up. Lift a stranger up--lift her up. I would ask you, mother and father, brother and sister, lovers, mother and daughter, father and son, lift someone. The very idea of lifting someone up will lift you, as well.” IfsGivingWellsIdeasWould BeMotherCultureAsksFatherSonBrotherLoversDiversityDaughterSocial JusticeStrangerLiftsIf I CouldBrothers And SistersLiftingMother And FatherMother And DaughterFather And SonDaughter To Father Author:Maya Angelou
“I understand what it's like to come with your family, and to uproot yourself and come to another culture. You need a lot of support. People say, 'She's got her daughter; she's got her husband.' Yeah, but she hasn't got anyone else.” PeopleNeedsMotherCultureSupportHusbandDaughterYeahOur Family Author:Emma Thompson
“I've had women tell me that when their daughters see them taking care of themselves, and being defined from within, and thinking for themselves instead of thinking about that silly culture out there, it's powerful modeling.” ThinkingCareMotherCulturePowerfulDaughterSillyDefinedModeling Author:Naomi Judd