US Department of Stating the Obvious Declares Father-Daughter Relationships “Important”
According to Peggy Drexler's op ed in today's Washington Post, the father-daughter relationship not only impacts women in their future relationships with men, women take their father's hypothetical approval or disapproval into account for all of their major decisions as adults as well. At our core, what we want is to be a nation of Daddy's girls. Cue the Father/Daughter dance music that makes all the wedding guests uncomfortable! (Suggestion: Butterfly Kisses)
We know that fathers play a key role in the development and choices of their daughters. But even for women whose fathers had been neglectful or abusive, I found a hunger for approval. They wanted a warm relationship with men who did not deserve any relationship at all.
Part of this need takes form early in life-when a father is a girl's portal to the world of men. I call fathers...