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What happens when Mean Girls grow up? Instead of blossoming into nurturing, caring and devoted members of the sisterhood, they become what Susan Shapiro Barash, gender-expert and gender studies professor at Marymount Manhattan College, calls Toxic Friends. We all have these “friends.” They are the girls and women who bring us down, rather than lifting us up.
It’s hard to wrap your mind around what it is that makes certain friends acts so… anti-ally. Barash has broken the reasons down in her latest book, beginning with the 10 types of female friends that range from hater to helper. They are: The Leader, The Doormat, The Sacrificer, The Misery Lover, The User, The Frenemy, The Trophy Friend, The Mirroring Friend, The Sharer and the Authentic Friend.
Barash also covers a range of topics from why women make more excuses for their female friends than they do for their husbands and children to the new style of female friendship in the 21st century. We all want to develop lasting, loving relationships with our female sisters. Barash is providing the antidote for women stuck in complicated, toxic relationships.
Stay tuned for my interview with Susan Shapiro Barash and in-depth review of Toxic Friends.
* Image courtesy of Susan Shapiro Barash's website
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