I went to Catholic school for 16 years. Good behavior, hygiene and the practicality of lace-up oxfords were embedded into me like chips in a cookie.
This was enhanced by a religious mother, who kept a home complete with rosary beads, crucifixes and a representation of The Last Supper on the wall.
How could I possibly know anything about being a bad girl? I mean, I know they existed–even in my Catholic high school. There was the girl with the tattoo (and this was in the 70’s), those who were smoking more than Camels in the ladies room and those who had a ‘reputation’ for doing more with boys than letting them walk you to class or an occasional ‘make out’ session at a school dance.
So it wasn’t until I got into college, then into the working world, that my worldly education really began. Good girls got married. Bad girls got an early education. Good girls got a late start. Bad girls got some early fun—sometimes too much. So what exactly is my point?
How much do you really know about bad girls? What did you learn through your official education and the one you learned on the street? Take my quiz and find out below. No peeking at answers though, less we know in advance exactly what kind of girl you are.
1. What did Typhoid Mary do for a living?
a. Housekeeper
b. Nurse
c. Cook
2. What was Winona Ryder arrested for?
a. Shoplifting
b. Vehicular homicide
c. Arson
3. Who were Lizzie Borden’s victims?
a. Her husband and his mistress
b. her kids
c. her parents
4. How did Charlotte Corday murder Jean=Paul Marat?
a. Poison
b. Explosives
c. Stabbing
5. Who was Bonnie Parker’s partner in crime?
a. Butch Cassidy
b. John Parker
c. Clyde Barrow
6. Which famous artist did Valerie Solanas shoot in 1968?
a. Jackson Pollock
b. Andy Warhol
c. Pablo Picasso
Answers: 1. cook 2. shoplifting 3. parents 4. stabbing (French Revolution) 5. Clyde Barrow (Bonnie & Clyde) 6. Andy Warhol
(adapted from The Ladies Room Reader Quiz Book, by Leslie Gilbert Elman)
Bad girls. Sometimes I envied them, though I mostly feared them. I still do. Wouldn’t it be nice to occasionally abandon all the rules? Only if we didn’t get caught, of course. But I’ll never have the guts and I suppose I wouldn’t really want to. I’ll just continue to cluck away at their misdeeds and secretly wish I could join them….