On Menstruation and Moonbeams
Is there any young lady out there who never read “Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret?”
It’s THE tome of girlish puberty, provided by the puberty-obsessed Judy Blume, and graced every girl’s bookshelf in the 1980s. The 1980s were a rich decade for these puberty books, pages filled with anxieties and excitements of first kisses, growing hair in weird places, and of course, getting your first period.
Those books made it sound so exciting. A life-changing experience. It would make you all grown up and experienced and boys would be suddenly infatuated with you, but they wouldn’t know why.
What happened to the genre? Today’s books just aren’t the same… ‘puberty’ is equated more with first sexual experiences than with the body changing, and that’s sad, a huge step skipped.
Today, the focus is on ignoring menstruation, on making it no big deal. As the Tampax (I think) commercials sing at us: It’s just an ordinary day…
Okay, so it’s not like a big deal in that it makes you different or unable to do anything you want to do, but what about the sacred rite of passing from girlhood? Why isn’t that celebrated anymore? When did ‘a girl’s first sexual experience’ replace the imminence of ‘a girl’s first period?’ Are first kisses still the heart-thumpers they used to be, or have we moved on to handjobs as out first romantic introduction?
It’s so sad to think of all those slumber parties today, without little girls crouched together in a circle to peer at the book Jenny brought, braces glinting in the moonlight, twirling their pigtails and giggling over Margaret’s misadventures.
Well, amazon.com does have this at least. Maybe it will bring back the puberty book…back to the beginning.
January 1st, 2006 at 5:49 am
I never read this one, but do understand what you’re saying about the whole puberty thing. Teens seem to know about stuff they might not need to know yet and they’re so jaded when it comes to getting your period, etc. Great entry. ;-)
January 2nd, 2006 at 8:08 am
Heh. I don’t think I ever read “Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret?”
Teens these days… paradoxically seem to grow up faster, but do so without having the level of maturity that should go with it.
January 2nd, 2006 at 1:20 pm
I loooooved “Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret”. I think I read it like 5 times :)
January 2nd, 2006 at 4:52 pm
Thanks Heather! :) But how did you survive adolescence with no Margaret?!
January 2nd, 2006 at 4:52 pm
EXACTLY, Karine!! Good point. It’s like little kids dressing up in their mother’s clothes. No Margaret for you, either? Ack! :)
January 2nd, 2006 at 4:53 pm
Score another one for the fabulous Ingrid!! Ingrid, I think you and I need to help Karine and Heather…get them a copy, stat!