T A B L E++T A L K

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R E C E N T L Y

Young, black and too white
By Karen Grigsby Bates
Social clubs for black children are making a comeback among middle-class parents who fear their kids are losing their roots roots
(05/15/98)

Death comes for the bishop
By Sallie Tisdale
Does the murder of a leading Guatemalan human rights activist no longer qualify as news in the United States?
(05/14/98)

Raging hormones
By Polly Shulman
Honest, respectful books that tell kids what they really want to know about sex
(05/13/98)

Les birds et les bees
By Debra S. Ollivier
When it comes to teaching their toddlers about sex, they really do do things differently in France
(05/12/98)

The single-mom scam
By Douglas Cruickshank
"About a Boy" with a yen for single moms
(05/11/98)

BROWSE THE MOTHERS WHO THINK ARCHIVES

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Mamafesto
By Camille Peri
Why it's time
for Mothers Who Think

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Where the gals are

BRIDGET JONES' DIARY
BY HELEN FIELDING
VIKING PRESS, 320 PAGES

From the comic strip "Cathy" to TV's "Ally McBeal," from chick flicks like "Walking and Talking" and the forthcoming "I Love You, Don't Touch Me" to popcorn novels like Laura Zigman's much-hyped "Animal Husbandry" and the British bestseller "Bridget Jones' Diary," female basket cases abound. No one seems to be griping about them, though, and that's probably because their existence can't really be blamed on men. Women, for the most part, create these characters, and it's female audiences who gobble them up with so much enthusiasm.

Granted, no one really wants to see the kind of character that some feminists once called for: brilliant, accomplished, sleekly independent, politically unimpeachable -- in short, a tedious paragon. It's understandable that women might turn with relief to stories about mere mortals, someone they can identify with rather than feel inferior to, particularly when they need a few laughs. Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones begins her diary with an impossible to-do list of self improvements, including "develop inner poise and authority and sense of self as woman of substance, complete without boyfriend, as best way to obtain boyfriend," demonstrating how easily a principle intended to unleash women can be twisted (by women themselves) into yet another task to fail at. In the end, feminist nostroms about what women could be swiftly mutated into a new, but still unfulfillable, list of things they should be.

So when Zigman's depressed protagonist wallows in a slough of worthlessness after being dumped by her patently duplicitous boyfriend and lies awake at night moaning, "Why me?" (when the more obvious question is: Why him?), we're meant to chuckle with rueful recognition. Isn't that just like life? And, of course, life -- or, more precisely, love, because these stories are always ultimately about the travails of romance -- sometimes is like that. On the other hand, life is like a whole lot of other things as well, things like adventure, inspiration, faith, vocation, idealism -- none of which ever seem to surface when our perpetually crestfallen heroines occupy center stage. It can be refreshing to see the mucky, inglorious aspects of contemporary women's lives reflected in books, TV and movies for a change, but a little bit of this stuff goes a long way. And there's a whole lot of it going around.

N E X T+P A G E: Learning from men?