Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with rolemodels

Help me find some swinging bachelorettes

orange swan — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 09:36:30 -0800

Since I seem to be hurtling towards old maidhood, I’d like enjoy the ride as much as possible. It irritates me that single women are so often portrayed as sadsacks just marking time until they can get married, or as being eaten up with bitterness and neuroses because they never found a man. So, I’m looking for positive role models and inspiration. What examples of fabulous freewheeling women can you think of in fiction, movies and real life? I’m looking for examples of completely non-pitiable women who spent most if not all of their adult lives living alone and who were so busy living and enjoying their lives that they forgot to notice that they forgot to get married. Kate Hepburn and Gloria Steinem would be examples of the kind of woman I’m looking for – they did both get married, but only for a couple of years each. The definining characteristic of these bachelorettes, of course, is not they eschew men completely, but that they are contented and even flourishing without any long-lasting relationship to one.

RoleModelFilter

Alterscape — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 11:16:49 -0800

Help a friend of mine find examples of young women who've done extraordinary things? A friend of mine leads a moral-support/discussion group for highschool-age girls. She's trying to find examples of girls and young women (teenagers, mostly) who've done extraordinary things in business, public service, etc to present as positive role models who rose above all the negativity of that phase of growing up. I know I've read a few pieces of journalism about this sort of thing, but I can't dredge up any names out of my memory. Help me, AskMe?

I'm sorry I can't offer any more specific guidance, but my hope is that if I make this an open-ended question, we'll get some new/interesting information!

Books about women heroes and role models for a 12-year-old girl?

troybob — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 09:14:46 -0800

What are some good biographical/autobiographical books about inspiring women I could put together into a set for my 12-year-old niece? My niece loves to read, and I thought for the holidays I would try to put together a set of eight to ten books about/by women as role models. I'm thinking along the lines of Eleanor Roosevelt, Helen Keller, Amelia Earhart...something not too simple or too adult for a 12-year-old girl (hard for me to judge just looking at book descriptions). It would be nice to have some modern-day women to include as well, though nothing comes to mind right away.

I've been meaning to read some of the autobiographical stuff by Keller and Roosevelt, so I might read some simultaneously with her (we are on different coasts).

Thanks people!