Girl

A short paragraph in which a mom tells her daughter what to do and how to act in every situation you can think of (how to keep house, how to wash herself, how to please a man, how to smile at people she likes, and those she doesn’t). Basically, mom is shaping her daughter to not think for herself. And with what mom says about daughter, I’m guessing she’s shaping daughter to have a hefty dose of low self-esteem to boot. The daughter only says two quick things in the whole passage, one of which is to protest against one of mom’s assumptions about her, and mom keeps shooting off orders without skipping a beat. Different times. Different cultures. Same cringe when I see women (or anyone, really) continue to support this ideology. You can read it for free here:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1978/06/26/girl

I feel like I read this in high school or even college. It's actually a sad short piece about survival that really reflects on society at the time. How to cook, clean, host, and deal with a man. Also, lets not forget the home remedies to have an abortion.

I loved this and how it was written. It reminded me of the rules of my own youth.