highlyeccentric | interesting stuff (Reply)

What a girl wants to learn about in Guides: safe sex, handling debt, safe internet use, and assembling flat pack furniture.

And this fantastic and varied article from the co-author of the "Great Big Glorious Book for Girls", including a discourse on gender politics:

here is the final battle for female emancipation: getting the world to understand that just because you like baking cupcakes doesn’t mean you are one.

a sample of advice given to girls over the years:

Girls of a superior position should read everything and be well up in every matter upon which we give instruction. For girls of a less high position, there are papers on economical cookery, plain needlework, home education and health.

The Girl’s Own Paper, 1880

Advice on how to deal with boys:

Although boys go to great pains to show the world a confident front, underneath they are as insecure as us. Sometimes, when it’s obvious that they are feeling sad (you will know this through your superior intuition), a bit of encouragement or a compliment can help them to feel better. One of the nicest things you can say to a boy is that he is good at something, eg, skateboarding, building a tree house, solving quadratic equations.

If you remember these few basic rules, boys can be among the best friends you’ll ever have. And they will carry your books for you, too.

And some simple recipes, which you can look up yourself.