Beyond Nice [Paperback]

Patricia H. Davis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2000

Making the Difference is the first book ever to examine the category of gender as it has been and is now understood in the social sciences and its pertinence for religion and theology. One of the most significant phenomena within Western Christianity over the last generation has been the emergence of feminism and feminist theology. They are sparked by such issues as inclusive language, understandings of God, ordination of women, patriarchal patterns reflected in Christian traditions, and the role of women's experience in religion. Yet, in confronting all these concerns, feminist reflections return inexorably to the debate over the meaning and significant of gender, gender difference, and the social construction of gender. Increasing sophistication in theology and ministry on gender questions requires disciplined attention to how gender itself has been analyzed in anthropology, biology, psychoanalysis, and philosophy. Graham's bright and clear work is a detailed and critical inquiry into these disciplines and their profound import for our understanding of human culture and identity, as well as for theology, church policy, and Christian practice.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this denuded dissertation, Davis eschews sustained analysis and engagement with relevant scholarship in favor of excerpting interviews she conducted over four years with adolescent girls about church and spirituality. Reading more like an extended journalistic feature than qualitative research, this book targets an audience of church workers seeking a better understanding of adolescent girls. Five topically organized chapters feature quotations from girls about God, their churches, sexuality and violence. In the first chapter, Davis explains that her responsibilities as an interviewer include sharing girls' insights without putting her own spin on them. This may explain why she does little more than quote and rephrase what informants tell her. Unfortunately, this strategy does not erase her influence, but rather allows it subtle power. For example, her chapter about violence highlights a tendency she has noticed among adolescent girls to protect others but not themselves. While Davis does voice some concern about this, her troubling admiration of such self-abnegation is evident as well. She seems to be rewriting an old feminist story, in which women are equal parts noble, innocent, victimized and wise. For a book that transcends these clich s in its exploration of girls coming of age in spiritual communities, see Carol Lakey Hess's Caretakers of Our Common House. Davis's book may serve her fellow church workers adequately, but her shallow valorization of girls does not, despite its title's promise, venture far beyond nice. (Dec.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Publisher

From the Preface (pre-publication version):

“[N]ice girls” are always calm, controlled, quiet . . . they never cause a ruckus, are never noisy, bossy, or aggressive, are not anxious and do not cause trouble.

Niceness is the opposite of spirituality. Niceness is, in fact, the opposite of what is required to build any genuine relationship—with God or with others. While niceness can smooth superficial human interactions, it is devastating to true intimacy.

Niceness requires putting away genuine feelings, avoiding conflict, swallowing hurts, denying pain, and being untruthful. Niceness requires self-denial and often self-forgetting. The nice person eventually forgets to notice how she really feels, even in extreme circumstances. The truly nice person doesn’t even know when she’s angry, and wouldn’t admit to being angry if questioned. The nice person would never fight on her own behalf. Most often, nice people are not able to feel strong positive emotions either. Nice people are “calm, controlled, and quiet.”

Niceness is the opposite of what adults should be teaching adolescents. Yet, it is a prime virtue taught to adolescent girls by mothers, teachers, and other adults who have internalized dominant cultural messages about “good” women: that they are self-sacrificing, nurturing, and never angry—that they are ultimately responsible for maintaining and protecting relationships. Girls, in fact, are taught to understand themselves in terms of the relationships of which they are a part. They “learn” that conflict (not-niceness) is a threat to relationships and selves, rather than that anger and other so-called negative feelings are natural human emotions that can be symptoms of relational problems.

Just at the time in their lives when girls are coming to know themselves as adults, just at the time when their awareness of what it means to be women is formed, they are often taught to be “nice” instead of to understand and deal with the complexity of adult emotional life. This usually means putting away their most important and real feelings, in favor of the kind of smiles and congeniality that will more likely win adult (and peer) approval.

True spirituality is about intimacy with God and others. This book is based in the testimony of over one hundred girls about their developing spiritualities within the context of a culture of “niceness.” Most of the girls in this study were very “nice” to me, the interviewer, but many also were courageous enough to break through niceness and to speak from their hearts about God, their families, their churches, their friends, and their relationships.

It is encouraging that most of these girls seem to see how expectations of “niceness” can be dangerous for them and for the development of real intimate relationships. But, they also talk about the struggle to act in ways that are congruent with their true feelings when those feelings are negative or even just intense. More importantly for the adults in their lives, they talk about their need for models—especially for women—who will embody a spirituality and style of relating to others that reveals integrity between true emotions and actions. They talk about wanting and needing families and church communities that will expect them to live honestly instead of nicely. They talk about needing to be able to ask questions that are hard and challenging, and to be heard and answered. They talk about the hard areas of their own lives, their experiences (first- or second-hand) of violence and their developing sexualities. They talk about their experiences of financial and material need! , and their expectations for the future.

I began this study with the idea that working with girls in a spiritual context would mean, first of all, helping girls to see the value in spirituality. I was surprised to find that most of the girls to whom I listened are already vitally interested in having a real relationship with God. And, they are interested in worship, doctrine, and especially the ethical teaching of the church. But they wonder why adults do not address their issues of vital concern such as violence, financial problems, and sexuality. They wonder why, even when they risk asking the questions, they are ignored or given answers that are too easy. This book can be read as a plea from the girls to the adults in their lives and to the church to drop the “niceness” code—to listen to their sometimes difficult voices—and to move toward real relationships with them. It can also be read as a offering of gratitude for the times they have been heard and appreciated even when they weren’t being nice. I am deeply indebted to these girls for their courage and willingness to talk with me. Their thoughtfulness and honesty is an inspiration to me, and I hope they will be so for others as well.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Fortress Press (December 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0800632567
• ISBN-13: 978-0800632564
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #906,713 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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