A Shout Out To My Younger Readers Out There

As a parent of a young daughter I find that I become more and more concerned with what images are being portrayed to girls as to what an ideal girl is. I know this isn't groundbreaking stuff, but I guess as a male it was easy to turn a blind eye to until now. I worry that she feels that being blonde is prettier than having dark hair, that having straight hair is prettier than curly, and that having white skin is prettier than having brown skin. These are all things that she has intimated that the would prefer to have. As a father it worries me to no end. I think she is a beautiful girl and I worry that she won't value herself as much as she should. I look at things like Barbies and the celebutantes that are all the rage now and worry about how much they negatively impact her self image. Mattell has done a lot to include multicultural friends and give them their own character and style, but in the end Barbie is still the lead. If you asked my daughter which was her favorite of her dolls she will answer Barbie, even though there are others that look more like her. Those are her second favorite.

On top of that I worry about the glorification of the party girl right now. The celebutantes once again are partly to blame for this, as well as the music industry with songs and videos imploring girls to act like strippers, and various other commercials, shows, and movies. I know that the easy answer for people to say is to monitor what she watches, change the channel, etc., but that's not always an effective solution. Lots of times what was once safe isn't anymore. Mary Kate and Ashley, Lindsay Lohan, and others were once all seen as very safe child stars. They were marketed to kids until every kid knew who they were. They then succumbed to the lifestyle and pressure of big media until they become the last people you want your child to emulate. The message I'm afraid all of this is sending to young girls is, "you need to look pretty, shake your ass, and be ready to take your clothes off at the drop of a hat because that's all you're good for".

I guess I could go on and on about this, but I won't. In closing I just want to say to all of the House of Dagromm's younger readers out there is that you don't have to look like this to be a beautiful and wonderful person.

...but if you do, don't be afraid to shoot me a line.