Rules for Being a Girl by Candace BushnellMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I love a book about a fierce young feminist, and that’s exactly what rules for being a girl gives us. Marin, our protagonist, begins seeing how society holds girls to different standards than guys after her teacher (late-twenties) comes on to her. She begins pointing out these "rules for girls" in an editorial for her school's paper, starts a feminist book club, and tries to figure out whether or not to report the teacher's misconduct.
RULES FOR BEING A GIRL deals with the subtle manipulations in an inappropriate teacher-student relationship and whether a situation is "bad" or "serious" enough to report. Marin tries to rationalize what happens with Bex as "just a kiss" and a miscommunication. We see this often in society where people say, "It wasn't rape, so I shouldn't bother reporting." Plus Bex is the "hot" young teacher all the girls swoon over (not a creepy old teacher), which blurs those lines further, and the way Cotugno and Bushnell examine these subtleties is fantastic.
This book gets into all those gray areas teenage girls exist in and brings them into the light. Highly recommend for all teenage girls, as well as everyone who needs a deeper understanding of the world of double-standards society creates for girls.
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