Blinky the Tree Frog ([info]blinkytreefrog) wrote,
@ 2005-05-22 17:33:00
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Current mood: chipper

On Becoming a Woman - The Sequel.
Okay, okay. Due to popular demand, I've done some more scanning from the unquenchable source of wisdom that it On Becoming a Woman. Hop over to this post to find out what the heck I'm talking about and read previous snippets.

There's nothing quite as gobsmacking here as some of the suggestions the good doctor made in the first scans, but nevertheless, some of it is quite astounding in its bizarreness. Pay particular attention to the pictures. I'm really not sure what the publisher was thinking.



Okay, the whole "you don't know what your future will hold but it will involve a house, a husband and 2.4 children" is pretty funny, but I'm personally more amused by his assertion that all teenagers are mentally alert and able to think clearly. Dude, hormones.

There are perfectly sensible and well-adjusted teenagers out there. Assuming that this is a universal thing? Is only going to bring you disappointment.



And speaking of sensible and well adjusted teens, here's an image you should all aspire to!



Next we skip to the "where babies come from" chapter. More specifically, childbirth.



Released to the outside world? "Fly, baby! Be freeee!" *splat*



"Remember: childbirth is a normal process, and the mother soon forgets the discomfort by transferring it to the father in the form of copious amounts of swearing and savage kicks to the groinal region."

The really sad thing about this whole tome is that occasionally, squished in between the insanity, there's actually some good advice tucked away. Like this bit, which is just a slightly more subtle way of saying "don't fall for a use 'em and lose 'em type":



And then you go on to things like this, and it all falls apart again. Here's four pages on dating, and more specifically, how to keep from jumping each other in a raging pit of hormones.









So basically, the best way to resist having sex with someone is to conduct your entire love affair in large crowds while talking about the weather. Sound advice, though I suspect that this would merely encourage some people.

More seriously, I have some severe doubts about how much of a relationship you can have while completely avoiding talking about anything personal. "Oh, I just know we're suited to each other. He likes rainy days and so do I! We have so much in common!"

Now, here's another bit where I thought he might be onto something. It's a little bit about peer pressure.



Then I read what his solution was. Stand up for yourself? Try to bring your friends around? Set limits?

Nope. Give up and find new friends who are exactly like you! Screw diversity! People can only be friends when they think and act alike!



And of course, if no one in the neighbourhood is good enough for you? Look forward to a life of solitude, or just get the hell outta there.

Of course, he backpedals ever so slightly at the end of the chapter, right?



Well okay, not really.

Lastly, a few pictures. Like this one, involving wholesome semi-naked activities.



And finally, what I personally consider to be the scariest picture in the whole book.



And to finish things off, remember, follow Harold's advice and one day you too can have your very own special glowing house!



I'm so in!




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[info]potionsmistress
2005-05-22 03:35 pm UTC (link)
Dude, now I want to read "Happiness for Husbands and Wives" and share it with my husband.

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[info]proudlijaholic
2005-05-22 08:08 pm UTC (link)
Good God, that's depressing.

I wonder if there are any bookstores that stock this.

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[info]dracothelizard
2005-05-22 10:40 pm UTC (link)
Wow, the daughter looks like she's about to hit her father with the sleigh!

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[info]andy_longwood
2005-05-23 11:18 pm UTC (link)
Boy, this guy really likes to say "wholesome."

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[info]blinkytreefrog
2005-05-24 09:30 am UTC (link)
It's a wholesome word. *nods*

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[info]ankhet
2005-05-29 07:24 am UTC (link)
(fly-by from a link to the FAQ.. by.. someone OH GOD I CAN'T REMEMBER!)

...reminds me of a conversation from "Pride and Prejudice":

"Well, Mr. Collins' conversation certainly is...wholesome."
"Yes, and there's plenty to be had of it!"

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[info]popesnarky
2005-05-24 01:44 am UTC (link)
Hail Eris!

"Every girl who can make a pal and confidant of her father i fortunate, for such a wholesome relationship often guards against serious mistakes."

Wow! Even incest???

Snarky (No, that *never* happened before the feminists came along, did it? You know, before the 1790s.)

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[info]codenamejp
2005-05-24 06:14 am UTC (link)
Hi there, I got linked to this "On Becoming a Woman" stuff and decided to add you to the friends list. I also noticed in your info page that you're from Australia! I'm moving into Brisbane on a partner visa next month, so that was cool, too. ; )

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[info]blinkytreefrog
2005-05-28 02:15 am UTC (link)
Kewl. I've only been to Brisbane once - I'm in SA myself, but it's a nice place, if a little tropical in the weather patterns :-). I'm sure you'll have fun!

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[info]just_katarin
2005-05-24 11:03 pm UTC (link)
okay, I have you're problem right there:

Loma Linda University?

They aren't just Seventh Day Adventists, they're scary MILITANT Seventh Day Adventists.

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[info]orange852
2005-05-24 11:39 pm UTC (link)
Um, most of the pic links seem to be broken. Of course, the last time posted that, they all worked when I got to my computer at home, so there may be firewall issues at my place of employment.

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[info]tartsweetheart
2005-05-25 04:14 am UTC (link)
Thanks for posting all of this. Sure, my eyes are burning, but I'm glad to see that so many people are offended by this. I feel like I did in my Family Studies seminar (it sounded interesting and less scary, originally) when I read Letters to Karen.

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[info]tartsweetheart
2005-05-25 04:15 am UTC (link)
Oh, and I linked to your first post in my LJ.

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[info]blinkytreefrog
2005-05-28 02:08 am UTC (link)
Kewl :-).

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[info]bobrhyn
2005-05-29 08:22 am UTC (link)
'Zest.'

AHAHAHAHA.

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[info]rachelcaine
2005-05-31 08:17 pm UTC (link)
Wow. I've been following the saga of Becoming A Woman, and ... wow. That's a goldmine, that is. And the pictures! OMG!

I'd have to hunt around to find it, but once upon a time my aunt gave me a booklet -- not a full book, of course -- called "The Role Of Woman In Music," published in the 1920s. (My aunt was a professional musician and played with the Dorsey brothers and Benny Goodman, among many others.) We both found it howlingly funny.

The upshot: one chapter basically said, "Women aren't fundamentally suited to, nor are intelligent enough, to become musicians, but if you *have* to become one, then stick to the harp or the piano -- something chaste and vaguely angelic. IN GOD'S NAME DON'T PLAY SOMETHING THAT YOU PUT BETWEEN YOUR LEGS, LIKE A CELLO OR CLARINET!"

And then the rest of the booklet was devoted to all of the terrible things that could happen to you in those awful places (what, like concert halls?) where young women could be preyed upon if they were so unwise as to play the cello. Or the clarinet, which was of course even more awful because ... blowing into a tube that you hold between your legs? Um, yeah.

If I find it in my giant bags o' stuff, I'll scan it and post pieces. It truly was shockingly funny and dismissive.

Thanks for a wonderful read --

Rachel Caine

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[info]blinkytreefrog
2005-06-02 11:36 am UTC (link)
Wow. They really knew their innuendo :-). And that does some rather interesting, I'd like to see it if you post it!

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[info]blinkytreefrog
2005-06-02 11:37 am UTC (link)
*sighs* sound rather interesting, dammit.

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[info]starwild
2005-06-04 01:22 am UTC (link)
I wonder what they'd think of a female trombonist.

*has been one since age 11*

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About that childbirth advice...
[info]the_blue_fenix
2005-05-31 08:43 pm UTC (link)
"Remember: childbirth is a normal process, and the mother soon forgets the discomfort

Ironically, these days it seems to be mostly the green/feminist/Pagan community who urge this sort of thing on women. Our fundie sisters may be oppressed in every other way, but they are allowed to yell for epidurals.

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Re: About that childbirth advice...
[info]deathwatchlove
2007-04-09 06:40 pm UTC (link)
My mother is one of those "I was in labour with your for nine million hours, you heathen" kind of people whenever I peeve her at all. She has not forgotten the discomfort of childbirth.

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Random person, linked from somewhere or other
[info]starwild
2005-06-04 01:47 am UTC (link)
I have SO enjoyed reading this drivel. Thank you very much for posting it.

I just love:

"You do not know yet whether you will live in a large house or a humble abode. You do not know how many children will be yours. You do not know whom you will marry, or where you will live."

...because we, as women, have absolutely no control over where we live, who we marry, the kind of house we live in, or how many children we have.

Oh, and they still publish stuff like this. Google for the books "I kissed dating goodbye" and "The Bride wore white".

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Re: Random person, linked from somewhere or other
[info]tortillafactory
2005-06-08 07:42 am UTC (link)
In all fairness, you can't really compare this with the two books you mentioned. All three advocate abstinence, but that's all they have in common.

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Re: Random person, linked from somewhere or other
[info]eternalism
2005-10-17 02:50 pm UTC (link)
Well, of course we have no control over how many children we have. After all, sex should only be used for reproduction, and therefore condoms should not be used, and if women are happiest when pleasing their man . . .

*headdesk*

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[info]anime_girl67
2005-08-16 02:27 am UTC (link)
Wow... I just read all of that... I don't even know what to say. xP

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[info]eternalism
2005-10-17 02:49 pm UTC (link)
The picture of the water-skiiers just makes me want to say, "Gasp! Shock! That woman's legs are parted! That hussy!"

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(Anonymous)
2006-02-21 04:38 am UTC (link)
I'm extremely surprised that they put a picture of a woman water-skiing in this particular book. But my real question is this: Why do all the teenage girls look like old women? Was beauty against the laws of god, like sex, back then? I have never seen a teenager these days, even without any form of primping, who looked like an old woman. They must've put special effort into creating wrinkles and saggy skin. Maybe they sat around pulling on their faces all day while they were busy not masturbating.

If you can't tell, I'm thoroughly disgusted by everything that has been posted from this book. I have never approved of book burnings, but this has changed my opinion. Everyone with an unscorched copy of this book should gather in some corn field and light them up. I'll supply the gasoline.

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(Anonymous)
2007-04-08 02:55 am UTC (link)
Perhaps today's addle-minded female would do well to read and heed at least some of the advice in the pamphlet.

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[info]dslwc
2007-04-09 07:42 pm UTC (link)
I'm speechless.

Followed you from a friend's post(thistles), and linking to you on my Lj. Hope that's ok.

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[info]helflaed
2007-04-19 03:20 pm UTC (link)
Thank you so much for posting this.

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I didn't read this one as a teen,
[info]pdjane
2007-11-04 04:24 am UTC (link)
but it was in the library when I was in grammar school, along with a lot of other drivel.

I somehow have the suspicion that the powers-that-be were raised on this stuff too--non-chemical fertilizer, the lot of it.

Sometimes I'm grateful that no-one gave me much guidance as a youngster and as a teen.

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[info]angelfirenze
2009-03-18 05:47 am UTC (link)
*cries because four of the images here are broken* My laughter was interrupted. *wails*

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