18 June, 2008
12 June, 2008
Overheard...
"Mom!" the little girl said, "Can we stop and look at the makeup?"
"No," her mother replied, "You're too young to wear makeup."
"But, Mom," came the small voice again, "Barbie is sooo beautiful."
At this point, I turned to look at the pair heading towards me up the aisle. The little girl was, I'm guessing, about 4 or 5 years old. I smiled politely at her mom, who smiled back.
"Honey," the mom said, "You're beautiful just the way you are."
"But not like Barbie, Mom," I heard the little girl say, just before they were out of earshot.
***
As I drove home from the store earlier this week, thinking about the little mother-daughter exchange I'd just witnessed, I became a bit depressed at the influence of the media. Here's a little girl whose mother says, "You're beautiful just the way you are," a little girl who is getting all the right messages from people who love her.
And she doesn't believe them, because in her world, Barbie's prettier.
I'm at the stage in my life where I think about what kind of parent I'll be, about how I'll handle all the challenges and difficulties that come with raising a person. So I'm left with this question: how do we raise girls who are secure enough in themselves to resist when society tells them they should use a frickin' doll as their standard of beauty?
This kind of thing is why it makes me crazy when people try and suggest that sexism doesn't exist, or that the standard of beauty applied to women (and young girls) isn't unreasonable, unfair (and ultimately) unattainable.
After all, I can't imagine a 5-year-old boy begging his dad for a can of protein powder so he can have muscles like G.I. Joe.
"No," her mother replied, "You're too young to wear makeup."
"But, Mom," came the small voice again, "Barbie is sooo beautiful."
At this point, I turned to look at the pair heading towards me up the aisle. The little girl was, I'm guessing, about 4 or 5 years old. I smiled politely at her mom, who smiled back.
"Honey," the mom said, "You're beautiful just the way you are."
"But not like Barbie, Mom," I heard the little girl say, just before they were out of earshot.
***
As I drove home from the store earlier this week, thinking about the little mother-daughter exchange I'd just witnessed, I became a bit depressed at the influence of the media. Here's a little girl whose mother says, "You're beautiful just the way you are," a little girl who is getting all the right messages from people who love her.
And she doesn't believe them, because in her world, Barbie's prettier.
I'm at the stage in my life where I think about what kind of parent I'll be, about how I'll handle all the challenges and difficulties that come with raising a person. So I'm left with this question: how do we raise girls who are secure enough in themselves to resist when society tells them they should use a frickin' doll as their standard of beauty?
This kind of thing is why it makes me crazy when people try and suggest that sexism doesn't exist, or that the standard of beauty applied to women (and young girls) isn't unreasonable, unfair (and ultimately) unattainable.
After all, I can't imagine a 5-year-old boy begging his dad for a can of protein powder so he can have muscles like G.I. Joe.
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