Last week my best friend sent me an e-mail with a link to a video about the kinds of messages we (corporate we – media) are sending young girls about who they are, what they should be and what they should stand for. It was actually a trailer for a longer movie and had celebrity interviews, input from developmental psychologists and clips from popular culture. In short – it was heart breaking. Seriously heart-breaking to think that there are so many voices and factors in our culture that tell girls to just stand still and look hot. (not even pretty – hot…or slutty, basically interchangeable)
There are all sort of really crappy messages out there for girls. And pop culture is full of really bad examples of what it means to be a woman and how to act in general life.
In the midst of things like the Real Housewives of…., The Bachelorette, Lady Gaga, Ke$ha, and Charlie Sheen’s goddesses we are in more need now of positive role models for young girls. And I’m not even going to get started on the whole “child star turned crazy pop goddess on stripper poll” debacles that grace the front page of .
We need real life role models. We need women who are powerful without being mean, beautiful without showing off everything, strong without bull dozing people to get there. We need women who are positive role models and who are gonna show a more civilized way of living that reflects the way we were created to be.
We need more Mindy Kalings and Zooey Deschanels in this world. In my last blog I linked a couple of websites I’ve been enjoying lately, including Hello Giggles and Mindy Kaling’s blog. I heard an interview with the creators of Hello Giggles and how they try so hard to provide a comedy website that is positive and not trashy. They don’t allow negative comments or anything like that, and they patrol it to make sure that happens. This kind of thing brings me some sort of hope. That there are celebrities out there that are understanding the minds they are shaping by merely being famous.
And Mindy Kaling. Girl, I cannot say enough good things about this woman. She’s smart, funny, beautiful and in so many ways the kind of person I would love for my nieces and goddaughter to want to be more like. I’ve been reading and re-reading excerpts from her book that comes out next month and realizing more and more how appreciative I am that someone can comment on life and give advice that isn’t about sleeping around and showing off what ya got.
I know that I can’t fully endorse everything that women like Mindy Kaling and Zooey Deschanel stand for or say, nor should I. I mean we still need to teach our girls to be critical thinkers and to throw what they see, read and hear against what they know to be true. But for the most part, these women are paving the way for a new kind of leading lady. Not the fully incapable size 0 woman who falls apart when her outfit doesn’t look right or a boy doesn’t call, but a real woman who thinks, cares, loves and lives life to the fullest.
That’s the kind of women I want to see more of in the news and on TV. The real woman who makes me proud to be a woman too. Those are the people we need to be supporting with our money, our attitudes and our web influence.
adventures in living an abundant life