Tonight my cousin Maizie who's 7 years old stumbled upon my copy of The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art. She read some parts, but mostly asked me to read various captions to pictures of all the "nekkid people". She wondered why all anybody did back then was paint naked people? And some parts were just too naked for her sensibilities. But she did ask me why the book was written and why it would need to be written, because aren't girls good painters too? Now, obviously she has no appreciation for the way women are treated differently than men, and I did skim the portions that I thought were too graphic. She asked a lot of interesting questions. She marveled at the fact that women weren't allowed to read or write, and were basically property of their husbands, fathers, and brothers. I think that maybe just talking about it, especially in a home environment and community that indoctrinates kids with the ideas of Good Girls and Bad Girls is hopefully a step, albeit small, in the right direction.

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