THE MODERN GIRL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20786, 3 August 1929, Page 14

THE MODERN GIRL.

Aechbishop Avbrilii touched on a rather delicate subject, figuratively speaking, when he criticised the modem girl in a speech at the annual meeting of the Young Women’s Christian Association in Auckland. The modern girl has provoked an immense amount of discussion and a large literary output. It can hardly he said, however, that she has, as a result, been definitely classified and labelled. Every generation has had its modem girl. The assumption that the young lady of the Victorian era was everything in the way of discretion, modesty and sweet obedience may be useful for the purpose of drawing a comparison. After all, however, ' it is merely an assumption. Certainly women have more freedom ■ nowadays than ever before. They are fully disposed, moreover, to make use of it, and there is no reason why, within certain limits, they should not. The girl of to-day represents a development which to a large extent clashes with ideas that are by many people, not all of them young, regarded as old-fashioned. She possesses admirers among many intellectual leaders and elders of her own sex, who do not hesitate to speak of “ our splendid modern girls,” and have their justification for doing so. There ax'o many respects in which the modem girl extorts admiration. There is a self-reliance about her, a healthiness and an alertness that do not suggest that she is injuring herself by her attitude towards life and by her pleasure-seeking proclivities. At her best the modern girl is very good to look upon. There is another side, it may be allowed, to the picture. The modern girl includes a type to which Archbishop Averill has referred in terms for which, unfortunately, there would appear to be a certain amount of warrant. If this type were representative of the young women of today there would be cause for concern. But it may be confidently suggested that the young women who in their desire to be independent and “ up to date” submit to no restraining considerations, and behav, in a manner which provokes a merited criticism, are, after all, in a minority out of all proportion to the attention which they manage to attract to themselves.