"For decades now, girls have been told that 'you can do anything.' 'How to Be the Best at Everything,' originally published in England, might as well add ' . . . in heels and lipstick.' It promises lessons on how to 'act like a celebrity,' 'make your own luxury bubble bath' and 'give yourself a perfect manicure.' This is the 'I am woman, see me shop' strain of feminism, the one that's given rise to mother-daughter spa packages and endless reruns of 'Sex and the City.' Perhaps the shift from purchasing power to purchase empowerment was inevitable: once marriage and motherhood ceased to be the bulwarks of female identity, what remained to distinguish us from men beyond our God-given ability to accessorize?" —Peggy Orenstein, writing in yesterday's NY Times magazine. [NY Times]