“The tyranny of nice and kind — the demand that girls act perfectly nice and accommodating — is oppressive to girls and wreaks havoc with their relationships. Such expectations require girls to push everything else they feel and think, especially anger, underground or out of public view. This creates fertile soil for those forms of aggression people have come to associate with girls — gossip, rumor spreading, subtle forms of exclusion and indirectness — because such tactics protect a girl’s image as nice while they give her some way to express her anger and experience power. One of the best things parents can do for girls is to encourage them to speak their thoughts and feelings, and to help them stay connected to reality in the face of simplistic, stereotypical views of what a girl should look, act, and be like.” Lyn Mikel-Brown, Meeting at the Crossroads