Martha Knows Everything...and You Should, Too

WHERE I'M GOING

Sometimes it's hard to know everything.

Sometimes it's even harder to know when you don't know everything.

Here's a start, though: I've been reading--inhaling, really--Dr. Anna Fels' book, Necessary Dreams. (Linky later.) Dr. Fels, a psychiatrist, has written a book about women and ambition that is reassuring and disturbing, sometimes all in the same sentence. We white middle class women of a certain age have come a long way baby--but we also get nervous when we go too far, or, most particularly, get "too much" recognition. Fels does a damned brilliant job of breaking down just why that is, and why women often give up in the face of pretty frightening discouragement---or, just as likely, they pick a smaller, "nicer" goal. It made me grateful for a lot of things in my upbringing (all girls in my high school, kickass nuns), and...well, pretty sad about others. But what's encouraging about Fels' book is the same thing that's spooky: between jobs and kids and new educational opportunities, not to mention that pesky global economy, women are creating a completely new road for themselves.

We hope.

posted by Martha @ 5:33 PM