Jezebel: harriet the spy

Troubled Starlet Has A Saucerful Of Hollywood Secrets

Anna — Wed, 06 May 2009 16:10:00 EDT

[Los Angeles, May 5. Image via x17]

Bad Girls Club: The Roomates Don't Know What Blogs Are

Tracie — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 11:00:00 EDT

On last night's episode of Bad Girls Club, Cordelia — most likely still pissed about that unrequited crush — decided to turn the entire house against Andrea by telling the other girls about her private blog on MySpace. Even though the blog is only viewable by Andrea and serves as her personal diary, the girls got all Harriet the Spy on her, and made her read entries to them, promising not to freak out. But of course, they were so savage in their cruelty that Andrea decided to just pick up and leave the house for good. Clip above.

Harriet The Spy: Iconoclastic, American Lezebel Icon

Jessica — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 16:30:00 EST

NPR's "Morning Edition" ran a segment this morning on what a groundbreaking work of young adult fiction Harriet the Spy was when it debuted in 1964. According to NPR correspondent Neva Grant, heroine Harriet M. Welsch was considered controversial because "Harriet saw too much, said too much. She even had to see a psychiatrist." Some schools banned the book, explains Grant, and some critics hated it, but readers, especially those who felt that they were outside the mainstream, appreciated that Harriet loved herself, disheveled hair and all. (You can get some more Harriet love in last Friday's Fine Lines column). Readers like Kathleen Horning, now a librarian in Wisconsin, liked the fact that Harriet was a tomboy who, unlike many 50s and 60s heroines, didn't have to go through a girlified redemption by the end of the book. In fact, as Grant reports, like Harriet, Horning was a "tomboy who didn't want to reform." Later on, Horning realized she was a lesbian.

"We felt like outsiders," said Horning, but "[Harriet taught us] we could be ourselves and survive." That message was an important one to young readers, and parenting blog Babble points out that Harriet paved the way for "beloved, fiesty girls" like Ramona Quimby, Eloise, Olivia, and Junie B. Jones. (But don't call them "tomboys." Apparently that term has term has been proclaimed sexist by a professor at Sarah Lawrence). The thing is, Babble writer Hannah Tennant-Moore then claims that "There remain few correspondingly gender-bending role models for boys. While it's become much more acceptable for girls to do traditionally masculine activities like play sports and crack smart aleck jokes, it remains largely taboo for young boys to play house, dress up, or quietly play with dolls."

I have to disagree with her. What about all the Roald Dahl heroes? I don't remember Charlie Bucket as a stereotypically wise-cracking main character. He loved his grandparents, wanted to help his mother, and was almost painfully earnest. What about James and his Giant Peach? Can you think of any other "gender bending" male young adult mainstays?

Unapologetically Harriet, The Misfit Spy [NPR]
Gender Roles In Children's Literature

Earlier: The Long Secret: CSI: Puberty

This Week, Serena Van Der Woodsen Gave Us A Shout-Out

Jessica — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 18:20:00 EST

The official Gossip Girl blog declared Jezebel as heroine Serena van der Woodsen's special friend.
35% of you would not ask a man to marry you! 40% say you wouldn't rule it out, but it's not at the top of your to-do list. Only 15% would ask in the future, and 9% already did. Fascinating!
Who cares about marriage?! We made chocolate penises!
We liveblogged the snoozy Oscars and declared fishy to be fabulous when it comes to red carpet fashion.
We snooped with Harriet M. Welsch.

We learned that 74% of women in their 30s are very or extremely willing to marry for money, and that Lindsay Lohan wears a diamond-encrusted cross.
We discovered that Bret Michaels and George Bush have a lot in common. No word on how George Michael fits into the military industrial equation.
We giggled at black hairstyles from back in the day. Jheri curl!
We did not take dumps in front of dudes.
But we did flush our tampons down their toilets.
So go get your seven-year-old a a mani-pedi and enjoy your freedom, you fucking dykes!