Читать книгу It's a Chick Thing - Ame Mahler Beanland - Страница 10

the cHick mAnifestO

The creation of this book has generated a lot of discussion about the clumsy, fun, silly, sometimes downright insulting ways people attempt to give name to our essence, our spirit, as women—chick, girlfriend, babe, gal, broad, sister, dame, feminist. Some were coined within our own ranks, others by men; some we embrace or tolerate, others we reject outright.

Most of us spurn rigid labels. One day we might choose to be our “chick” persona—wearing a hot red lipstick and ferociously high heels; the next day we might choose to be “woooman” and wear a crisp white blouse with khaki pants. One day we might want to smoke a cigar and blurt out Dorothy Parker witticisms at an office party, the next day we're putting on our scarf pin and sitting down to high tea at a stuffy hotel with Aunt Martha. We're unapologetic about our feminine and our feminist sides and how we choose to manifest and celebrate them. Lets put it this way—some of us want to wear lipstick to the bra burning. Don't try to define us—we have attitude and an inalienable right to be unpredictable, enigmatic, and female.

Our good friends, our girlfriends, let us do this. That is what this book is about—how our girlfriends allow and encourage us to expand our boundaries, defy definition, and do it all while simultaneously comfortably residing within our own skins.

The stories in this book are meant to amuse and entertain, but they also explore themes of growth, commitment, loss, self-identity, and memory What we do in the name of adventure, thrill-seeking and sport can sometimes mask its higher purpose in the eyes of the uninitiated—that of connection, bonding, and celebration. This book is a testament to the ways that friendship forms and influences our lives as women—our minds, our bodies, our emotions—and our lipstick color.

We celebrate all sides of women's friendships—from the merciless jokes we play on men in bars to how we encourage each other in the workplace and offer one another the unflagging support that only girlfriends can deliver. So next time you feel like wrapping your head in a scarf ala Thelma and Louise or belting out your favorite girl's-night anthem, succumb. And to your critics deliver a sassy, “It's a chick thing,” and leave it at that.

—AME MAHLER BEANLAND AND EMILY MILES TERRY

“It's life, Sidda.

You just climb on the beast and ride.”

—Vivi Abbot, in Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, by Rebecca Wells

“Ouiser could never stay mad at me.

She worships the quicksand

I walk on.”

—Clarice in Steel Magnolias