As in Layne looked really "sophisticated" in her black crushed velvet dress and silver squiggly pin. She looked at least 19 where as Claudia still looked great, but 17 tops. - paraphrased from Stacy when the gang visited her after she moved back to New York.

You forgot "decorum." I always think of Kristy getting in trouble and having to write an essay on proper classroom decorum in the first book when I see the word decorum.

There is also a grown up Sweet Valley series (Not very many of them, though). YOU'LL NEVER GUESS WHAT HAPPENS.

No, Karen, tell me a-fucking-gain about Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang.

WHO THE FUCK IS SHANNON

I always read the Little Sisters books even though I hated how Karen explained how divorce worked during chapter two of every. single. book. WE GET IT. Your family is special.

I idolized Claudia. She was clearly the best with her "almond shaped eyes and jet black hair".

Bump for handies. Sometimes Mr. Shanaay feels frisky at 2am and I'm beat but up for making out and helping him masturbate. I think there's some extreme intimacy to sharing what is usually a private experience. I don't understand looking down at any sexual experience with your partner; it's an expression of your love…

I didn't realize had gone so mainstream that we now have derogatory names for women who smoke in a way you don't specifically agree with. "stiletto stoners" or "pot-babe centerfolds")? Gosh it's like the gaming community, though I'm sure stoners are more welcoming than the guys I played online with a decade ago.

Being a "cool girl" is something I've never tried because I'm way too lazy to pretend to like things I don't like. I love red wine and hate whiskey, I deeply do not care about pro sports, but I like playing pick-up basketball or volleyball. I like dresses and high heels but usually wear jeans. I'm a physics major. I…

There's a lot to unpack in this comment, but mostly, I find it really, really disturbing that your core thesis is the exact thing Tracy is talking about, that women are infinitely less interesting, and infinitely harder to get along with, than man, and that you yourself were far too smart and cool to reduce yourself…

Hah, I think the crucial element is that they're both one-dimensional male fantasies.

they're easier to spot on tv.

I remember this phase around 15-16 where I thought I was went to be a boy, and went through this boy stage of my hair pinned back in a tail, wearing ball caps, baggy clothes (to hide my breasts, which were huge by this age), sitting with my legs spread like guys do, etc.

I think there's some overlap between the Cool Girl and the MPDG.

I bet it's because you're funny! I've heard most women aren't funny!

Absolutely. There's so much pressure to not ever get angry, or else be perceived as some trivial chick who's complaining about something dumb and harshing everyone's mellow. (And it's even worse if you're a woman of color showing anger.) But it's socially acceptable for men to unleash anger—even violent anger.

I think that it can also be something that other people read you as, though, too. Like, even if you're not intentionally putting on a show, if you're not performing a certain conventional kind of femininity because that happens to be who you are, you can still get people who perceive you as rejecting conventional…

To me, the central and most problematic aspect of the "Cool Girl" trope is the idea that this type of woman is always easy going and never angers. This part of the performance can do serious damage to your self-esteem - it makes you diminish the importance of your own emotions and instincts. There were a few…

In Cool Girl fashion, I was looking to settle down with one fella, but acted like I wasn't, because it seemed to garner more interest.