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Girlie Stereotypes

9th September 2009 by Helena 22 Comments  

We have an office assistant on the magazine called Fadwa. She is great. Lebanese but raised in Abu Dhabi. She always has an opinion or something to tell us all. This morning she arrived with a quote of the day which is as follows:

If you marry a monkey for his money, the money might disappear and you will be left with a monkey.

It got me thinking about an article I am writing about so-called Jumeirah Janes. These are basically ladies who lunch, have their nails done and complain about their maids. They often live in an area of Dubai called Jumeirah. Then I started thinking about other girlie stereotypes; Chavs, Sloane Rangers, Valley Girls, Essex Girls.

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Can you think of any more? I would love to include several of them from all over the world in the article so send please them over. I was trying to think of a Swedish one but can only come up with a male stereotype: the ‘raggare‘ who drives an old American car and cruises chicks. Or maybe they don’t even exist in any more now that petrol is so expensive.

I end on another one of Fadwa’s bon mots:  A smart man is a man who makes money for his girl to spend. A smart girl is one who finds a man like that.

Nothing stereotypical about that…. Oh and by the way, if Annie Liebowitz is going bust what hope is there for the rest of us?
Copyright: Helena Frith Powell 2009


Filed Under: Abu Dhabi, Women, blog --> Tagged With: girlie, stereotypes

22 thoughts on Girlie Stereotypes

  • Elisabeth Loesch says:
    9th September 2009 at 9:23 am

    What’s happening to Annie Leibovitz is really sad. It just shows that you can be a true genius but still lack business sense. It’s sad because genius cannot be learned. You either have it or you don’t, but you can learn how to handle your finances properly.

    About the idle rich (smart!!!???) women of the world. Here in Switzerland, we have an epidemic. But make no mistake, keeping up with the Joneses is HARD work! The competition is really fierced. A quote from CartoonStock.com that illustrates their gruelling job : “Typical! The Joneses are the first people in the close to get the flu.”

  • Fiona says:
    9th September 2009 at 11:51 am

    Well in France we have (as you probably know ;)) BCBG, les bonnes petites cathos Versaillaises (with their Peter Pan collars and 5 children by the age of 32!), les femmes dans l’education nationale (I have no fewer than FOUR sisters in law plus a stepdaughter in this category and could write a thesis)…

  • The Unexpected Traveller says:
    9th September 2009 at 11:58 am

    Here’s a Mediterranean stereotype for you –

    One of the more expensive towns on the island of Malta is called Sliema. Pronounced Slee-ma (and coming from the Arabic word “Saleem” or “Sliem”) it means “Peace”. It is quite a trendy place, has a large coast line and has an impressive number of eateries, bars and shops.

    People who live there are well-off, naturally, and to show that they are better than the average Maltese, tend to speak in English. The implication used to be that they are (better) educated but with post-war reforms, education has improved everywhere. Now, people from Sliema tend to talk in English but with a few Maltese terms thrown in. The result is a sentence in both languages that only a fellow Maltese-English speaker would understand. In the worst examples, someone will speak a sentence in English using Maltese grammatical rules and vice versa. These women (for it is predominantly a female trait) are known as “tal-pepe” (pronounced “tull pe-pe”). Unfortunately I do not know the provenance of the nickname.

    Hope this helps

    The Unexpected Traveller

  • helena says:
    9th September 2009 at 12:06 pm

    Thank you all so much, that’s great. Any details on what these women wear, drive etc would be fantastic. Hx

  • Joanne says:
    9th September 2009 at 3:28 pm

    On the subject of girlie stereotypes, thought you might enjoy this quick video from Dove and their campaign for real beauty. (Maybe you’ve seen it already?). Here’s the link for their website…

    http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/home_films_evolution_v2.swf

    Enjoy! Joanne

  • Cate Jumeirah says:
    9th September 2009 at 3:51 pm

    Woah, go carefully, Helena. To the unsuspecting outsider I know I come across immediately as most people’s idea of a typical Jumeirah Jane having all the prerequisites and then add some. But I’ve lived here in central Jumeirah for 20 years, and although my female neighbours may be easy to riducule they are not so simple to stereotype accurately. Drop me an e-mail if you’d like to discuss further.

  • Phillip Vanderwarker says:
    10th September 2009 at 9:16 am

    The only female poseurs that spring to mind can be found strutting stiff legged in the latest piste fashion up and down the main street if Kitzbuel and similar high profile centres, but are rarely seen on the actual slopes. Yet there again, I am only a man, and what do I know about female customs and practice?

  • Unexpected Traveller says:
    10th September 2009 at 9:17 am

    Ok – further to my previous comment:

    A Maltese tal-pepe would wear UK high street brand names. Topshop, Next, Wallis, Miss Selfridges since these are the biggest names on the island. There are no designer shops in Malta so anyone wearing a better brand name is in a separate league.

    Not sure that there is a specific sort of car they’d drive, but they all have the latest mobile phone – iPhone preferably.

    The U T

  • helena says:
    10th September 2009 at 9:23 am

    Thank you! Hx

  • Caroline says:
    10th September 2009 at 9:30 am

    How could you possibly forget the classic WAG? (sometimes known in my hometown of Manchester as the Wilmslow Wife. Blonde hair, acrylic nails, fake tan and the ubiquitous tight white jeans and heels. (As far away from me as it’s possible to be!)

    Caroline (love the blog btw)

  • helena says:
    10th September 2009 at 9:39 am

    Yes good point! Thanks so much Hx

  • Hong Kong Expat says:
    11th September 2009 at 1:42 am

    In Hong Kong there are Tai Tai’s.
    These are women with lots of money who are immaculately turned out and spend all their time shopping or lunching.

  • Buka says:
    11th September 2009 at 4:29 am

    Helena, please don’t forget about the UES (upper east side) moms or Park Avenue moms (called both). They are very well portrayed in the movie called “The Nanny Diaries.” Walk Park, Madison, or 5th avenues and you’ll see them everywhere. It is definitely not a freak show of downtown Cipriani’s (I know you’ve been there, right?) but equally entertaining!

  • helena says:
    11th September 2009 at 7:59 am

    Thank you all so much, they have all been incorporated in the article which I hope will be the cover story on September 26th.
    If you had to pick one of these, which one would you be? I am rather attracted by the idea of being a Park Avenue Mom….
    Hx

  • Jules says:
    16th September 2009 at 8:45 am

    Rich, influential pissed off women have a tendancy to fight back so heed Cate’s words on this one. I know you are a lovely person (I’ve met you) but Abu Dhabi has yet to find out. I loved Joanne’s link to the Dove commercial and have put a bare faced picture of me on my site in solidarity. Want to do the same? http://www.julesritter.com

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Helena Frith Powell was born in Sweden to a Swedish mother and Italian father, but grew up mainly in England. She is the author of eleven books, translated into several languages including Chinese and Russian. She wrote the French Mistress column The Sunday Times about life in France for several years. She is a regular contributor to the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, The Times, Daily Telegraph, Tatler Magazine and Harper’s Bazaar.

Helena has been the editor of four magazines, including M Magazine, a supplement for the Abu Dhabi based National Newspaper and FIVE, a high-end fashion glossy, also published in Abu Dhabi. Helena was also editor in chief of 360 Life, a quarterly glossy magazine published with the Sports 360 Newspaper in Dubai, part of the Chalhoub Group.

Helena contributes regularly to UK-based newspapers and magazines and holds a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Cambridge. Helena is also working on a thriller called Thin Ice that will be published in spring 2021 as well as a novel about the relationship between Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield called Sense of an Echo.

Her latest non-fiction work Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles came out in hardback in 2016 and in paperback in April 2018.

Helena, who was educated at Durham University, lives in the Languedoc region of France with her husband Rupert and their three children.

Bibliography

More France Please, we’re British; Gibson Square 2004

Two Lipsticks and a Lover 2005; Gibson Square (hardback)

All You Need to be Impossibly French; (US version of above) Penguin 2006

Two Lipsticks and a Lover; Arrow Books (paperback) 2007

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (hardback) 2006

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (paperback) 2007

So Chic! (French version of Two Lipsticks) Leduc Editions 2008 (also translated into Chinese, Russian and Thai)

More, More France; Gibson Square 2009

To Hell in High Heels; Arrow Books 2009 (also translated into Polish)

The Viva Mayr Diet; Harper Collins 2009

Love in a Warm Climate; Gibson Square 2011

The Ex-Factor; Gibson Square 2013

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles; Gibson Square 2016

The Arnolfini Marriage; Amazon Kindle December 2016

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles (paperback); Gibson Square spring 2018

The Longest Night; Gibson Square spring 2019

 

 

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