Instead of Mean-Spirited #RulesForGirls, Let's Share Advice for Women

Yep, I'm getting old, but one way I benefited from growing up in the dark ages (before Facebook, Twitter, social media): no bad advice from strangers at a time when you take everything to heart.

If you follow trends and hash tags on Twitter (hash tags being the # symbol followed by a topic title) you may have seen #rulesforgirls come up. The topic is self-explanatory: rules for girls (and young women) to live by.

Some attempt to be insightful, some are tongue-in-cheek, but many "rules" are the kind of incredibly stupid things some people will tweet simply because they can...and because they delight in being downright nasty:

The Good:

jenniesmash: A shoe may be a utilitarian foot covering, a piece of art, or anything in between. It's not, however, a metaphor. #rulesforgirls

SoDamnTrue: #RulesForGirls Don`t let scars from your previous relationships conflict your future relationships. Don`t carry baggage with you. Its heavy!

The Bad:

Bubbleyrichelle: #rulesforgirls if you dont have an ass dont wear leggings it looks gross.

BriaaaMonae: #RulesForGirls , whatever you won't do , another girl will

The Ugly:

BigJav80: #RulesForGirls if you give me head in the car... Make sure you don't leave me a mess. Otherwise don't do it!

lyndrez: #rulesforgirls CLEAN THE BOX!!!!

The above is just a sample of what showed up in the past 30 minutes. As many have already tweeted, #rulesforgirls smacks of misogyny, sexism and double standards. Sadly, it's coming from both sexes.

Over at Jezebel, Tracie Egan Morrissey calls it for what it is: "Twitter's Incredibly Depressing #RulesForGirls." She highlights earlier tweets that women have offered up as serious advice:

• these dishes aren't going to wash themselves
• cook for him in stilettos
• play dumb; act smart!
• cook him food. thats the way to a guys heart.
• Always look glamorous no matter how bad u feel on the inside.

This sort of "advice" is so anachronistic it's almost funny, except for the fact that a lot of women believe it to be true and are actually eager share the gospel of being a good little woman circa 1959.

This time warped thinking is disturbing on many levels. Jen Hubley, who edits the About Today newsletter here at About.com, posted on Facebook, "So annoyed by this #rulesforgirls thing on Twitter. Yes, I know that's the point. But really, jokes about doing dishes and making sandwiches? Is it 1983? Should I put on a blazer and do stand-up in front of a brick wall with fake graffiti on it?"

Many women are firing back by tweeting that there shouldn't be any tweets about #rulesforgirls.

But perhaps the trend began because both women and girls were looking for a way to share honest, heartfelt information and advice...and it turned ugly and got out of control as many things on the internet often do. And before a lot of guys weighed in on a conversation that may have been better if it had been exclusively female.

Instead of rules for girls, how about advice for women?

I know there's at least a dozen things I've learned the hard way about relationships, work, school, friendship, and parenting that I often pass along to friends at opportune moments.

What advice for women would you offer up? How did you acquire this knowledge, and what might you do differently if you had a do-over? The link below provides a chance for you to share that hard-won knowledge:

Related article: Advice for Women...From Women