"Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters" by Meg Meeker [View All]

[Stuckinthebush]

My brother in law called to say that he was sending a book to me that he said he loved and thought I needed to read since I had three daughters. I was suspicious because he is a die-hard FOX news watcher and non-critical thinker. He knows my politics well, and so I figured he wouldn't send me a blatantly conservative book.

It arrived today from Amazon - a fresh book! I checked the author: Meg Meeker, M.D. I didn't know anything about her, so I looked at the back cover. There were quotes from a Dr. Armand Nicholi, a psychiatrist at Harvard. Nothing scary yet. There was one from Elayne Bennett, president of the Best Friends Foundation. Didn't know her, but her last name was scary. Then there was a quote from David Limbaugh, Rush's brother. Red Flag!!!

So, I open the jacket and begin to read out loud to my wife sitting across the room from me:

"The most important person in a young girl's life? Her father. That's right - and teen health expert Dr. Meg Meeker has the data and clinical experience to prove it. After more than twenty years of counseling girls, she knows that fathers, more than anyone else, set the course for their daughters' lives. Now Dr. Meeker, author of the critically acclaimed 'Epidemic: How Teen Sex Is Killing Our Kids', shows you how to strengthen or rebuild your bond with your daughter, and how to use it to shape her life, and yours, for the better"


OK...as a critical social theorist, I can de-construct the language in the first paragraph, and the title of the author's other book is a bit right wingie sounding, but aside from the removal of mothers as important figures in a teen girls life, no other blaring warning sirens are going off yet. My wife looks at me with furrowed brow....I continue...


"Directly challenging the feminist attack on traditional masculinity...."

My wife screams, "THERE IT IS!"

"....Dr. Meeker demonstrates that the most important factor for girls growing up into confident, well adjusted women is a strong father with conservative values. To have one, she shows, is the best protection against eating disorders, failure in school, STDs, unwed pregnancy and drug or alcohol abuse - and the best predictor of academic achievement, successful marriage, and a satisfying emotional life."

By this point my wife is yelling, "What is with my brother? Does he not get it? Does he not understand that we abhor this shit?"

Well, I'll leave the psychoanalysis to my psychiatrist wife, but I would say that he doesn't have a critical bone in his body. Not one. I don't think he intentionally purchased a conservative book to send to us in order to piss us off...I just think he doesn't get it.

Well, my question to all of the wonderful thinkers in this group is, "What the hell should I do with this?"

Clearly, it is going to make my blood boil to read it, but perhaps I should read it and dissect it bit by bit for my brother in law. But will that help? I don't know if he knows that I consider myself a feminist, but shouldn't he? How can I use this opportunity to inject some little bit of critical analysis in his FOX-based world?

There is a long shot that if I read this, it won't be so bad. But based on the jacket, I have little hope of that.

My other question is, "What do we know about this Meg Meeker?" I did a quick Google on her, and she has been a feature speaker at some conservative meetings, and she has a host of conservative books out. Anything else from the feminists blogs that might be helpful for me to know as I de-construct this book?

Thanks!