In the most recent Atlantic, Caitlin Flanagan writes about "What Girls Want." Basically, she says that all girls want steadfast male devotion, like she did, which is why the Twilight series is so popular among teen female readers. She makes the horrible logical fallacy of assuming that her particular experience is universal; in doing so, she erases all possible variations of sexual maturation — due to race, class, gender, socioeconomic status, size, disability, etc. — that young girls experience. She especially erases variations in young girls’ sexual preferences, assuming that they’re all heteronormative. We ain’t no monolith, you dipstick, and we don’t all want slavishly adoring masculine suitors.
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A blessing on your head. I thought I was hallucinating when I read Ms. Flanagan’s article. And I’m certainly tempted not to renew my subscription to “The Atlantic Monthly” when the time comes. Between the recent eighteen-page expose about the photogs who stalk Britney Spears and Flanagan’s “Twilight” spew, I don’t know how much more vapidity this old crank can take.