May 30, 2006
So, I finally finished reading Reviving Ophelia by Mary Pipher, Ph.D. It's taken a while because it's not really a page-turner. It could be about a third shorter, maybe, as Mary Pipher, Ph.D. repeated herself a lot. It was somewhat enlightening, but not something that made me want to keep reading into the wee, small hours of the morning.
A lot of what Dr. Pipher is saying is pretty scary, and sort of overwhelming. The problem is so pervasive in our society that I'm not really sure what to do with this information. How can one even begin to make a difference? It reminds me a bit of my reaction to Ishmael, but on a smaller scale. I can't imagine how I would feel about it if I had children. (Me as a father: that's kinda scary too.)
There is one thing, though, that I wondered about a lot. Quite a few times she mentions how adolescent girls are routinely groped and physically accosted in their school hallways. Now this book was published in 1994. Five years earlier I was in high school and ten years earlier in junior high. I just do not remember that happening. Did that sort of thing did happen at my schools, and if so why I didn't know about it.
I'm not doubting that this happens. I know all kinds of horrible stuff goes on, but just how common is this? Is it more likely in certain areas or among certain social groups? Is it something that increased in incidence after I got out of high school? Or was I just too naive or self-absorbed to notice? If it did happen and I had known, how would I have felt then?
