Our Girls And Young Women Need Better Role Models.
It must be very difficult for female children and young adults to find heroes. There appears to be a dearth of positive role models, and an abundance of walking object lessons.
Society want girls to grow up feeling confident, strong and secure. Families encourage education, hard work, honesty, integrity and loyalty. We want girls to grow into women who love and value themselves, women who respect their bodies and minds.
Then our young women turn on their televisions and see vapid, vain Paris Hilton, who has made a lucratative career out of being a spoiled, nasty, lazy and dim-witted human Barbie Doll.
They watch Jessica Simpson prove that sex sells, and the fewer brain cells a woman has, the better. T & A, girls, not IQ is what matters.
Britney Spears. Lindsay Lohan. Hilary Duff. Jennifer Lopez. Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen. Pop culture is full to overflowing with young women who prove that a little (sometimes very little) talent, a little luck (or a rich family) and a nice rack (and a nice ass) is the ticket to fame and fortune. Forget good grades, a healthy lifestyle, community involvement, decency.
This is where one argues that our young women should not be looking to television, movie or music stars for role models. Maybe not, but the reality is that young people idolize performers, and that won't change unless we, as a society, have the appetite to alter our hero-worshipping ways. I'm not holding my breath.
Trying to raise emotionally healthy, productive and responsible women is tough, but the alternative is unthinkable. We lose too many girls and young adult women to drugs, prostitution, self mutilation, eating disorders, suicide, abusive relationships, and early pregnancies because they feel they have no future, so why bother trying?
We have to keep working at raising awareness of the struggles our girls and young women face. "It takes a village to raise a child" may be a cliche, but some cliches are rooted in truth.
Hang on little sisters. You are the hope for a better tomorrow, maybe you will do better by your daughters than your parents and grandparents did.
Society want girls to grow up feeling confident, strong and secure. Families encourage education, hard work, honesty, integrity and loyalty. We want girls to grow into women who love and value themselves, women who respect their bodies and minds.
Then our young women turn on their televisions and see vapid, vain Paris Hilton, who has made a lucratative career out of being a spoiled, nasty, lazy and dim-witted human Barbie Doll.
They watch Jessica Simpson prove that sex sells, and the fewer brain cells a woman has, the better. T & A, girls, not IQ is what matters.
Britney Spears. Lindsay Lohan. Hilary Duff. Jennifer Lopez. Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen. Pop culture is full to overflowing with young women who prove that a little (sometimes very little) talent, a little luck (or a rich family) and a nice rack (and a nice ass) is the ticket to fame and fortune. Forget good grades, a healthy lifestyle, community involvement, decency.
This is where one argues that our young women should not be looking to television, movie or music stars for role models. Maybe not, but the reality is that young people idolize performers, and that won't change unless we, as a society, have the appetite to alter our hero-worshipping ways. I'm not holding my breath.
Trying to raise emotionally healthy, productive and responsible women is tough, but the alternative is unthinkable. We lose too many girls and young adult women to drugs, prostitution, self mutilation, eating disorders, suicide, abusive relationships, and early pregnancies because they feel they have no future, so why bother trying?
We have to keep working at raising awareness of the struggles our girls and young women face. "It takes a village to raise a child" may be a cliche, but some cliches are rooted in truth.
Hang on little sisters. You are the hope for a better tomorrow, maybe you will do better by your daughters than your parents and grandparents did.
posted by Alphamutt at 7:00 PM
1 Comments:
At the end of the day, it's our own beliefs and the way we actually live our life that our kids emulate.
Sit down with them from an early age, watch the TV ads with them and talk about how ads lie - they find it fascinating, and most kids start loving "catching" advertisers in their own baloney. It's not that long a jump from "Hey, that toy doesn't really fly on it's own" to "Why is she wearing lingerie to sell dish detergent??"
But the main thing is, lying to kids doesn't work. If you say wealth isn't important, but you're secretly intimidated because someone has a Mercedes or designer clothes - your kid will know. If you say beauty isn't important, then idolize attractive movie stars, they'll figure out there's a dichotomy there. If you talk about positive body image and then refuse to get in a bathing suit because a stranger might not think you measure up to Jessica Simpson, they'll know.
That said, it seems like there is a dismal lack of heroes and admirable celebrities lately, both for males and females. Teens probably don't identify with actors like Susan Sarandon and Judi Dench as much as I do :P
From Mandy (aka "can't leave a short comment, can I?" :) )
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