# Girls are still reading Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [November 12, 2025, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-are-still-reading-are-you-there-god-its-me-margaret/1024801 "2025-11-12T10:36:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2025, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-are-still-reading-are-you-there-god-its-me-margaret/1024801/41 "2025-11-12T19:19:25Z")
It is a thing of the past here, but still common enough in the 70s and 80s. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2025, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-are-still-reading-are-you-there-god-its-me-margaret/1024801/42 "2025-11-12T19:39:49Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > One of my fourth graders in religious school had _Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret_, yesterday, and I asked her why she was reading it? wasn’t it terribly out-of-date? > > She said “Oh no! It’s a classic! all the girls in my class are reading it.” > > The other girls there for Hebrew class that day all assented. > > I asked if they thought it seemed old-fashioned and odd, without computers and cell phones, and they said no, they didn’t really notice, and then one said “The feelings are the same.” OK, I’m a guy. I know that “Are You There, God…” is a book about a girl getting her period, so I’ve never read it, never really had a desire to read it. What about the … process would be out of date from 1970? And I’m not trying to be an ass here, I’m truly curious. OK, reading through the thread, tampons and pads weren’t as ubiquitous then, but still… ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2025, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-are-still-reading-are-you-there-god-its-me-margaret/1024801/43 "2025-11-12T19:43:41Z")
I’m not the OP, but I think the point was that teenagers today communicate and socialize much differently than those in 1970 in the pre-internet and smartphone days. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2025, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-are-still-reading-are-you-there-god-its-me-margaret/1024801/44 "2025-11-12T19:44:48Z")
There was a horrible elastic belt with hooks to hold a big padded napkin in place (there was no sticky strip to hold the pad to your underwear). Bulky, uncomfortable, sometimes easy to see and therefore a source of bullying and cruel comments by peers. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2025, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-are-still-reading-are-you-there-god-its-me-margaret/1024801/45 "2025-11-12T20:31:16Z")
> [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](#): > > OK, I’m a guy. I know that “Are You There, God…” is a book about a girl getting her period, so I’ve never read it, never really had a desire to read it. What about the … process would be out of date from 1970? And I’m not trying to be an ass here, I’m truly curious. OK, reading through the thread, tampons and pads weren’t as ubiquitous then, but still… I’ve seen the film but not read the book, but assuming the film follows the book reasonably closely, it isn’t _just_ about her getting her period. There’s also a lot about her trying to make new friends after moving to the suburbs, which certainly would be different without phones and social media, but the overall feelings of worrying that she doesn’t fit in would be the same. Also, a major sub plot about her exploring her religious identity, but that probably wouldn’t be any different today. Honestly probably the most dated thing was the idea that moving from the city to the suburbs was what everyone was doing if they could afford it. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-are-still-reading-are-you-there-god-its-me-margaret/1024801/46 "2025-11-13T00:12:11Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > I asked if they thought it seemed old-fashioned and odd, without computers and cell phones, and they said no, they didn’t really notice, and then one said “The feelings are the same.” As a long time Judy Blume fan, I’ve gotta say, that made my heart sing. > [@susan](#): > > There was a horrible elastic belt with hooks to hold a big padded napkin in place (there was no sticky strip to hold the pad to your underwear). Bulky, uncomfortable, sometimes easy to see and therefore a source of bullying and cruel comments by peers. That sounds horrible. And now we have the miracle of _period panties._ How far we’ve come. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-are-still-reading-are-you-there-god-its-me-margaret/1024801/47 "2025-11-13T00:24:16Z")
Diva Cup! Diva Cup! ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-are-still-reading-are-you-there-god-its-me-margaret/1024801/48 "2025-11-13T00:24:39Z")
My mother never liked the stick-on pads, and used those things until she didn’t need to any more. I finally read “Are You There…” within the past 10 years or so. I think it was an updated version, and there were a few things in it that would have been dated by the time I was in the targeted audience, just a few years after it was published, but yeah, the feelings are the same. That’s what makes a book, etc. a classic. They got the SNL treatment in the meantime. I will add that the controversial Always “Have a happy period!” commercials resonated with me, because wings were the single greatest development in the feminine hygiene department IMNSHO. > **[Kotex Classic - SNL](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBlR7qVQ0X8%2F)** > > In this commercial parody, Kotex brings back their original sanitary pads, Kotex Classics, for the modern woman. \[Season 27, 2002\]#SNLSubscribe to SNL: https... ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-are-still-reading-are-you-there-god-its-me-margaret/1024801/49 "2025-11-13T00:29:24Z")
That is hilarious! Could you really wear them swimming? I’m guessing not. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-are-still-reading-are-you-there-god-its-me-margaret/1024801/50 "2025-11-13T00:30:14Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > For some people it was, my mom occasionally called it the fridge the ice box. I knew people that called it the Frigidaire also. When she got sick at one point and I did the shopping for her, I had to ask an older lady in the supermarket what Oleo was as that is what my Mom wrote for margarine. That was the first big name brand of margarine apparently. Likewise, my parents used “ice box” as a slang term for the refrigerator. I only learned later that an actual ice box was a different thing. My mother also called margarine “oleo.” It wasn’t a brand name; the spread was originally called “oleomargarine.” Some people shortened it to “oleo,” others to “margarine.” Eventually margarine won out. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-are-still-reading-are-you-there-god-its-me-margaret/1024801/51 "2025-11-13T00:32:05Z")
To me, the party with the whole class being invited AND ATTENDING dated it for me. I definitely remember the whole Rely Tampons disaster. I was 16 and had just started working at Target, and while I never used them, some of my friends did, and those things DID.NOT.LEAK. This was their downfall, really, because women would not infrequently leave them in WAAAAAAY too long. > **[Rely (tampon)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rely_(tampon))** > > Rely was a brand of superabsorbent tampons made by Procter & Gamble starting in 1975. The brand's advertising slogan was "It even absorbs the worry!", and claimed it could hold up longer than the leading tampon, because it was made differently. "Remember, They named it Rely" was the last line of most commercials. > Due to consumer health issues and complaints, as well as mounting legal issues, Rely tampons were removed from the market in 1980. > Rely tampons were made with carboxymethylcellulose an... ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-are-still-reading-are-you-there-god-its-me-margaret/1024801/52 "2025-11-13T00:35:57Z")
You COULD, but would you really WANT to? Two stories about belted pads: The aforementioned Target got a call from a sorority at a college in town, and they were buying them up because they were going to use them in an initiation ceremony. They were going to tie them together, wrap the new members up in them, and they would have to walk around the block dressed this way, after which they would burn them in a bonfire. (More recently, I saw some girls walking around wearing aluminum-foil miniskirts.) The other was in a humorous anecdotes column in one of my pharmacy magazines. One day, a gnarled old farmer came in and bought out the rural drugstore’s stock of belted pads while the writer was filling in, and told them, “Best oil filters I ever found for my tractor!” ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-are-still-reading-are-you-there-god-its-me-margaret/1024801/53 "2025-11-13T00:37:56Z")
> [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](#): > > OK, I’m a guy. I know that “Are You There, God…” is a book about a girl getting her period, so I’ve never read it, never really had a desire to read it. What about the … process would be out of date from 1970? And I’m not trying to be an ass here, I’m truly curious. OK, reading through the thread, tampons and pads weren’t as ubiquitous then, but still… See, this is the thing about Judy Blume books. She’s one of the most banned authors of the last century, and she becomes known for writing about these controversial flashpoint issues - which, in the case of a young girl getting her period, it _was_ controversial. Also I think that’s the “we must we must increase our bust” book. So heaven forfend we show a young girl and her friends fantasizing about growing breasts, or becoming a woman, even though becoming a woman is an inevitable part of every (cis) girl’s life. Her books are broadly about puberty, and friendship, and yes, often religious identity - see also _Starring Sally J Friedman as Herself_ where IIRC the Jewish main character becomes convinced that Hitler is living next door and has continued nightmares about him. She wasn’t afraid to write about the hard things or the taboo things. She wrote, to paraphrase Hemingway, “hard and clear about what hurts.” It’s really giving it short shrift to say it’s about a girl who starts her period. It’s about a girl. It’s an author who had a unique way of capturing what it meant to be a girl and she captured it so well that many girls today can still relate. And some people, you know, hate that. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-are-still-reading-are-you-there-god-its-me-margaret/1024801/54 "2025-11-13T00:47:22Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > People don’t give kids enough credit for what they’re capable of engaging with if you really encourage their curiosity. I agree. When it comes to what they’re capable of understanding or even handling I think they are often underestimated. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-are-still-reading-are-you-there-god-its-me-margaret/1024801/55 "2025-11-13T00:49:24Z")
You couldn’t wear them swimming any more than you can wear a contemporary pad swimming. I mean, you CAN, but you’ll leave a trail. That SNL captures the experience well, though the pad looks much more comfortable than what was available in the 1970’s. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-are-still-reading-are-you-there-god-its-me-margaret/1024801/56 "2025-11-13T01:22:28Z")
> [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](#): > > OK, I’m a guy. I know that “Are You There, God…” is a book about a girl getting her period, so I’ve never read it, never really had a desire to read it. Maybe you had no desire to know what going through puberty was like for a girl, but it would have been educational. At least it was for me, when I read it as part of a set of five Judy Blume books I had as a boy. I didn’t have any sisters, or any other girls I was close enough to to have been exposed to what they went through growing up, so it exposed me to some things I would otherwise have had no clue about. ---
**Author:** ![mtnmatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a3d4f5/32.png) [@mtnmatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mtnmatt)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-are-still-reading-are-you-there-god-its-me-margaret/1024801/57 "2025-11-13T01:47:23Z")
Back in the mid-70s, my VERY devout Catholic aunt saw the title and thought it would be a good read for my cousin’s spiritual growth when we were about 12 or 13. He definitely learned some stuff (and of course passed it on to me) but not what she was hoping. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-are-still-reading-are-you-there-god-its-me-margaret/1024801/58 "2025-11-13T01:53:42Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > One of my fourth graders in religious school had _Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret_, yesterday, and I asked her why she was reading it? wasn’t it terribly out-of-date? This just sounds very wrong. Why would you even think to challenge a kid’s choice of reading material? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-are-still-reading-are-you-there-god-its-me-margaret/1024801/59 "2025-11-13T02:05:20Z")
> [@susan](#): > > You couldn’t wear them swimming any more than you can wear a contemporary pad swimming. I mean, you CAN, but you’ll leave a trail. That SNL captures the experience well, though the pad looks much more comfortable than what was available in the 1970’s. You might not leave a trail, but it would end up soaking wet and disgusting. There’s a reason tampon ads that ran just as i was starting to use those products showed women in white bathing suits. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-are-still-reading-are-you-there-god-its-me-margaret/1024801/60 "2025-11-13T04:12:54Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > Getting back to the OP, when I was in middle school in the early 1990s I read lots of early Beverly Cleary books, stuff she wrote in the 1950s. I’m sure I noticed some things like different customs of the time, but I still was able to identify with the characters. They’re still printing those, with “updated” artwork that shows kids wearing helmets when riding bikes, for example, which is of course completely unsupported by the text. (Bugs me a bit, in fact. It isn’t the true Beverly Cleary juvenile book experience without the original Louis Darling illustrations.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-are-still-reading-are-you-there-god-its-me-margaret/1024801.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-are-still-reading-are-you-there-god-its-me-margaret/1024801.md?page=4)