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This is not for every family, as it is self-described as 'grass-root feminist' and sometimes runs articles or columns about "how to tell your parents you're queer", but I think this is a pretty good magazine considering what's out there for girls:
Shameless (http://www.shamelessmag.com)
For girls who get it (that's their motto)
Unless you see yourself as politically and/or socially conservative, you'll probably love this. I'm twice the age of their average reader and will renew my subscription this Summer. The issue I have in hand here (Fall 2005) has articles on "Making the Cut" ("The pressure to be perfect below the belt", an article about labia reconstruction, a topic we've recently discussed here) and a column on why we pluck our eyebrows, another (by a toronto doctor) on the Plan B pill, some "geek chic" column (about computers or something), a crash course in surfing, etc.
I find it totally women-positive. At times it makes me cringe a bit, but much, much less than the fluffy stuff the girls usually get to read.
It's a Canadian mag but they will gladly deliver everywhere!!
And, to me, these chicks kick-@$$.
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We have the female tennis players, too, like Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Martina Hingis, Sharapova, Davenport, etc. Gymnast, swimmers, weight lifters, etc. have many positive female role models for young girls.
Being an engineer who is willing to try anything that looks interesting and challenging, I have encountered many people in life, men and women, who don't like women like us being "out of our place." Fear and insecurity drive them to try to "put us in our place." I've experienced a lot of rejection from men and women due to being different, which has made me "give up" on humanity at different times in life.
The first time my paternal grandmother saw me on a motorcycle her comment was, "Only ****s ride motorcycles." The nerve of even your own family sometimes.
My dad didn't tell me until I was 42 that he was proud of me. He was proud of me for being an engineer. In his pea brain, women were to be stay at mothers, teachers, and maybe nurses but certainly nothing else.
I am sure many women here, and other places, have overcome a lot in life to achieve, fulfill their dreams, pursue their goals, set new limits for women, push boundaries, etc. Many women have a lot to celebrate!
To really live life, you need a lot of courage.
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great thread! pkg--I enjoyed reading what you had to say.
When I think of the women I admired as a child: well...Dr. Joyce Brothers (I wanted to be a psychologist--she just seemed so smart and sure of herself!).
I remember I would get frustrated that there was no female Evil Kneivel at that time. I was a bit of a odd mixture of tomboy and egg head. I do not recall any women in media doing anything too physically taxing, aside from tennis (not a sport I was interested in).
Even the media put forth Charlies Angels (bright, physically fit, but also looking beautiful the whole time).
As far as other strong women I admire: Georgeanna Terry, Janice Longo, Adrienne Rich, Maya Angelou, Jodi Foster for picking non-trad female characters to play.
close to home: any woman engineer, scientist...any woman in a non-trad female career!
oh yeah, my grandmother--who was a flapper in the 20's and thought it was great that I rode a motorcycle. (my mom, well...another story...)
