I read the Diary of Anne Frank for the first time in 8th grade, thus beginning my interest in Holocaust memoirs. I have read dozens of them, with the majority written by people who were teenagers at the time. I think they are all examples of how young people who already possessed great courage, character, and ingenuity even at a young age. They just happened to be put in positions where those traits were truly tested.
When I think of myself as a teenager, I definitely laugh at how I thought I was as mature as I'd ever get because of course I've grown since then. But it also reminds me to respect teenagers now because I always felt that I was more intelligent, aware, and intuitive than older people gave me credit for.
I remember reading Reviving Ophelia as a young teenager (I liked to keep up on what my mom thought she was learning about me!), and being really moved by a section Mary Pipher writes about the "spiritual selves" of adolescent girls. (She mentioned Anne Frank and Joan of Arc, iirc.) One of the things that really stuck out for me is the idea that it's an age where a lot of girls are becoming intellectually capable of dealing with abstract issues like adults, but they combine that with the emotional fervor and intensity of adolescence, especially about justice and fairness. It was something that really resonated with me, and this quote reminded me of that.
I read the Diary of Anne Frank when I was in fifth grade. My teacher pulled me aside and said "I think you'd like this". I was reading above my grade level and going through Christopher Pike, R.L Stine and The Baby-Sitter's Club books like water. I liked Shakespeare and Jane Austen and so when I decided to read the book I didn't know if I'd like it.
There is no happy ending to the Diary of Anne Frank, no prince to rescue her, no moment of truth where she realizes she can overcome the horrible faction that is taking over her life nor are there any worries about make-up and parties. This is a book about a real girl who went through one of the most horrific things that a person can go through.
She was beautiful as a person and an inspiration to, not just young women, but to everyone. The book taught us that there is always light even in the darkest of dark and there is always a voice in the silence.
I can't think of this book or the girl who wrote it without being reminded of how sad I was for her and how I wished I could destroy the Nazi's myself.
There's a family story about Anne Frank that has always haunted me. My parents went to a party hosted by a couple where the wife was the child of Holocaust survivors. One of the people at the party had gone to grade school with Anne Frank and she told my father that she was shocked when she'd read her diaries because the Anne Frank she knew was a tiny shy mouse, and she couldn't imagine that someone like that could write in such a clear, strong voice. When I was younger, I thought this made her story even sadder-- she never got to use that strong voice except in her writing. But now, I think that her diaries have made her voice "louder" than it ever could have been otherwise. I still wish she'd been given the chance to grow into that voice.
You go girl! Had the internet been up to speed when I was in high school, this is the kind of thing my friends and I would have loved. Of course, we would have also withstood sniping and snarking from adults who thought our beliefs were "cute". Keep it up, young grasshopper!
I really wish something like this had been around when I was a teenager! Teen girls definitely need some space and time to work on these issues amongst themselves and start to define feminism for themselves.
I feel badly that they have received nasty comments, but I wonder if it might not give them some insight into what women like Sonia Sotomayor, Hillary Clinton, etc. go through: nasty, dirty criticism BECAUSE of their gender, not even sort of tangentially related to it. Maybe most of those people will be dead by the time today's teenagers are Sotomayor's age, but they certainly have their own websites and other media outlets keeping their outdated and harmful ideas alive.
(In related news, this is the first time the new commenting system has even sort of worked for me, and it took me forever to type this out.)
Poor kid already had an MRA-type on there saying that most rape allegations are false and there's no such thing as male privilege or white privilege and that women earn more than men do. She needs a comment moderator, stat.
So if I had created a press release about my blogs and writing just two mere years ago, I could've been the youngest feminist blogger, having been fifteen?
Srsly, though, when I was 16, the things that I was doing were mostly embarrassing later on, once I thought about it a little. Like competing in poultry showmanship at the county fair and being a Future Homemaker of America and having VOTE PRO LIFE buttons. This is something about which 25 year old FutureJulie will be proud.
@morninggloria: I was marinated in feminist thinking from the second I was born. My mother was an original bra-burner and I'm old enough to be Ms Zeilinger's mother. I read through her blog yesterday and I think she's doing a great job. It's very reassuring to see a young woman so engaged at her age. I do hope she can stave off some of the ugliness that is sure to come her way from both adults and teens alike.
@DramaClub: My mother tried to do that to me, but then I got all religious when I was like 12. I started dropping it before I hit my late teens, but gradually. For example, for awhile I considered myself a feminist who was pro-life and also pro abstinence till marriage. The wheels just had to finish turning a little.
@whats_in_a_name: For real. I would have read it too, and maybe then PastRah would have stopped saying the now cringe-tastic phrase 'I'm not a feminist BUT' a few years earlier.
@morninggloria: My fervently atheist mother would have had a cow if I'd gone religious on her. Not in front of me, of course, but she'd have birthed a huge enormous motherly cow behind my back. She said she wanted us to make up our own minds about religion while constantly pointing out how organized religion systematically subjugated women from the moment gods were conceived. Marinated, I tell you. Mare-in-nay-ted.
@rah29: It took me 'til 27 to drop the "I'm not a feminist but..." phrase. Strangely, it was driven out of me by a series of conversations with my lovely boyfriend who I had just started dating at that time - who identifies as a feminist and hopes to raise his daughter as one.
@dj_chick: Same. It's on its way to my 13 year old girl cousin, AND her brothers. I feel like if we get all teens, male and female, to start showing an interest in feminism then girls like Julie hopefully will not have to grow up and go to college with guys who think feminism is a joke and only of relevance to 'ugly chicks'.
Edited by elitza owns the last Enzo shirt at 07/15/09 3:34 AM
elitza owns the last Enzo shirt was starred
elitza owns the last Enzo shirt was unstarred
@kithkin: This is something that your parents really should've told you about, but when a boy bird and girl bird fall in love they sleep together then 9 months later the stork delivers a little baby tweeter to their house.
God, now I want to go comment to counterbalance the assy adults over there. Unfortunately, I am also an adult, which might not be helpful when it comes to the site's admitted aims...
@whynotshesaid: That's true. But I would think it would fit well with teenagers and college-undergrad adults. She could definitely bring that element if she happens to get another contributor or something.
Bravo, Julie! I think this is amazing and wonderful!
And for those that choose to cause chaos and commotion on your blog, might I suggest a commenter moderator, much like our own hortense, who will lay the smack down. Their resume must include the words "disemvowel" and "smite".
09/25/09
When I think of myself as a teenager, I definitely laugh at how I thought I was as mature as I'd ever get because of course I've grown since then. But it also reminds me to respect teenagers now because I always felt that I was more intelligent, aware, and intuitive than older people gave me credit for.
09/25/09
09/25/09
There is no happy ending to the Diary of Anne Frank, no prince to rescue her, no moment of truth where she realizes she can overcome the horrible faction that is taking over her life nor are there any worries about make-up and parties. This is a book about a real girl who went through one of the most horrific things that a person can go through.
She was beautiful as a person and an inspiration to, not just young women, but to everyone. The book taught us that there is always light even in the darkest of dark and there is always a voice in the silence.
I can't think of this book or the girl who wrote it without being reminded of how sad I was for her and how I wished I could destroy the Nazi's myself.
09/25/09
09/25/09
07/15/09
07/15/09
I feel badly that they have received nasty comments, but I wonder if it might not give them some insight into what women like Sonia Sotomayor, Hillary Clinton, etc. go through: nasty, dirty criticism BECAUSE of their gender, not even sort of tangentially related to it. Maybe most of those people will be dead by the time today's teenagers are Sotomayor's age, but they certainly have their own websites and other media outlets keeping their outdated and harmful ideas alive.
(In related news, this is the first time the new commenting system has even sort of worked for me, and it took me forever to type this out.)
07/14/09
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Just saying.
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I know that I would've read the shit out of it when I was in high school.
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(Bitter, me? Never...)
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And for those that choose to cause chaos and commotion on your blog, might I suggest a commenter moderator, much like our own hortense, who will lay the smack down. Their resume must include the words "disemvowel" and "smite".