Anna Quindlen and the Sophisticated Teenager
Posted on March 21, 2006
Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and novelist Anna Quindlen talks to the Fort Worth Star Telegram about Women's History Month and how things have changed for women since she was the same age as her daughter is now.
On her 17-year-old daughter, Maria:We didn't realize that the current crop of 17 year-olds was "obsessed with the presidency." The ones we know are obsessed with The O.C., The Real World, America's Top Model and what's happening on MySpace.com. Perhaps there is a vast pool of politically sophisticated teens who spend most of their time wondering who'll win the midterm elections and debating which politician would be best at navigating the current intricacies of domestic economic policy. Or perhaps not.I just gave her a necklace that says on it: "Fearlessness." That's probably the biggest thing that Maria's taught me. She's not afraid to say no. She's not afraid to take chances. Conformity is not in her DNA. . . . She's sort of the girl I was, with all of the societal expectations of my time surgically removed. And I realize when I look at her that what I've been trying to do for the last 35 years is remove those societal expectations. She and her friends have grown up in a completely different world. They never think that there are jobs that women can't hold, because they've seen women hold virtually every job. That's why they're all so obsessed with the presidency. Because it's the only job during their lifetime -- except for the papacy, which I don't think most of them want -- that hasn't been held by a woman.
