Who is Your Daughter’s Hero? Commentary on Current Events.
It occurred to me yesterday that my daughter, a beautiful ten-year-old girl, has the wrong heroines. I’m sure I am one of them, at least I like to think I am, but for now I’m talking celebrities. Brittany Spears, for instance. We have the dolls, the albums, and the posters. Mary Kate and Ashley, we have their make up, clothes and god-forbidden Christmas Music Specials.
Somewhere, as I try not to pull a Vincent Van Go and lop off my own ear to stop the sounds of teen-age screeches to repetitive beats, it occurs to me that these girls are nothing like the heroines I had growing up. Scarlet from G.I Joe, for instance. The scary spider lady from Go-Bots. Rainbow Bright and J.E.M. These were girls with conviction, they had a purpose and a reason to exist. They had style that did not conform to the media’s idea of style. A grace that was not forced on them by record companies and fashion designers that thing teenagers should wear knee-high boots and mini-skirts beneath plastered pounds of make-up.
Of course, all my heroines were cartoon characters, but that brings me to another point. The only way America recognizes a woman as a force to be reckoned with is if she is a cartoon or a slut (gasp!).
Where’s the real heroine for my daughter? I want a female hero that does not bow to the media, or shockingly display her private parts, or hates her body so much that she becomes anorexic. I want a real heroine for my daughter. I want Wonder-Woman, Kate Winslet and Queen Boudicca rolled together with a little bit of Janice Joplin.
Is that too much to ask?
Author: Rita Harris
Filed under: Celebrities, Commentary
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.