"Let us not be ashamed to speak what we shame not to think."
-Michel de Montaigne

Sunday, November 7, 2010

A Girl's Girl


Surely you've heard of the expression, "He's a man's man." This implies that a man has certain qualities that makes him lovable by other men.

Usually this involves some sort of hard cowboy stoicism, a certain sense of humor, a notable knowledge of "man things" like sports statistics or vintage cars. He holds his liquor well, is good with the ladies, he's respected by other men, has a sense of fashionable edginess without looking like an overly-coifed metrosexual. You know, he's a dude the other dude's want to be, or at least be friends with.

So what's the woman's equivalent? What qualifies someone as a 'girl's girl' or a 'woman's woman?'


From my experience, a girl's girl is someone who:

1) Is attractive without being threatening or overly sexy. In other words, she escapes the skank factor. This is a big one. Because most women want to better themselves with friends who will propel them into the next category, without constantly worrying if their spouses secretly lust over their gal pals.

2) Her house is just so. Do I even need to explain this one? No.

3) She wants babies, lots of babies. Or at least, she publicly pines over all things motherhood in a way that rivals only her husband's rabid love of SEC football. Because this, apparently, is the fruition of womanhood. And of course one child is never enough. One child forces her to ask the question, "So when are you going to have another one?"

4) She is smiley. In fact, the probability of being a girl's-girl increases with the size of and the frequency by which you flash your pearly whites. Think Julia Roberts toothiness. She played a prostitute in "Pretty Woman" and still audiences perceived her as wholesome as granny's apple pie every time she bared those mega-watt chompers.

5) She does not have a past. Or if she has an unsavory history, it is one that makes her look enduring in a June Carter, Lifetime movie sort of way.

6) She is good with correspondences: think thank you cards, holiday cards, birthday cards, scrapbook pages, etc...

7) She has a well-stocked purse. Need a tissue/nail file/safety pin/tampon/ironing board/tire iron/vintage off-white cameo pin? This girl has it all in her Kate Spade. Eat your heart out Mary Poppins.

8) She is better than all of your friends in at least one hobby. Bonus points if she is a) a militant jogger or triathlete, b) insane coupon-clipper, c) yoga instructor, d) culinary queen, or e) a combination of two of the above.

9) She looks effortless in ridiculous trends. Somehow she manages to be the one person on earth who doesn't look like bloated roadkill while wearing jeggings and faux-fur wrap.

10) Other girls like her, and she likes other girls. The majority of her friends are other women (mostly) like her. Because girl's-girls tend to attract one another.

I've brought a good deal of suffering down on myself wanting to be a girl's-girl. I've always known that I wasn't one. My throw pillows are not perfectly fluffed, or even necessarily matching. My nail polish chips almost instantly. Sometimes I go a little overboard on cleavage or eyeliner or high heels, or all of the above at once. I loathe baby showers. I am terribly uncomfortable in groups of women. I've got a past that may land me a movie deal with HBO, not Lifetime. I'd rather fish than go on a girl's getaway. But that's okay. The strange thing is, I've recently made a few girlfriends because of church, and they are ALL girl's-girls, and they're...wonderful. I've learned at least that there is room for us all. The girl's-girls and the...well, others, like me.



NOTE Celebrity girl's-girls include: Reese Witherspoon, Gwenyth Paltrow, Julie Roberts, Kristin Chenoweth, Meg Ryan (before the Russell Crow affair), Natalie Portman, and anyone who is stylish, but not classically beautiful i.e. Sarah Jessica Parker.

6 comments:

  1. Your requirements for being a 'girly-girl' are definitley on point and I am most definitely lacking in many of these areas. But, I will say that I love enjoying the awesome bits of 'girliness' that I do not display in other fantastic women. I think it's so interesting to listen to all the cutesie stories that I never get to hear in my house of boys! And, let me tell you something missy, I think you are a lot more girly than you know!

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  2. Aww, thanks V-V. I was being funny, of course. I think being a girl's-girl is great, and I appreciate women like this too because they make me want to be better. I still don't think I'm a girl's-girl at all, which I see different than being "girly." I'm definitely girly when it comes to makeup and clothes, but I don't see myself as one of those women that other women want to emulate necessarily. Or maybe I just can't tell, lol.

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  3. haha...too funny! I'm not a girls girl either but I think Nikki is!

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  4. These are so good. I am cracking up about the extra points for clipping coupons. I would add that you get extra point for scrapbooking, sewing, or baking from scratch. However, the definition of a girl's girl is definitely changing. Anyone who has confidence to stay true to herself should be applauded as the new GIRL'S Girl.

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  5. I laughed and was entertained by this posting as is always the case with your writing Christeene.
    Good job!

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  6. The HBO comment cracked me up. When my kids were the ages of 2 & 3 or maybe slightly older they told me they wanted to get married and I said I quite expected to go on Dr. Phil someday but never Jerry Springer please and explained to them that after you marry someone you make them a relative but you don't marry someone that is already your relative. No redneck love! Kids are so cute and innocent though. I love your writing and I see you as balanced in both your approach and ability to get along with everyone and to reach out to a diverse group of people in your own special unique way. You've got skills! Writing to me is like exercise it is tough to get started but once I do it is invigorating and you my lovely words flow so eloquently through you and you make it seem so easy. I admire you!

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