You see, when I was younger I would say,When I grow up, I wanna be famous
I wanna be a star, I wanna be in movies...
Sometimes I look around at the world around me, and I'm so overwhelmingly grateful that I was given a son and not a daughter. Not that I think that boys are superior; it just seems like they're less difficult to raise.
Culture just seems to be attacking little girls, their self-esteem and their self-image, from an earlier and earlier age. Look at that child on the left, a contestant from "Toddlers and Tiaras". She's a preschooler in veneers and Aquanet. It's creepy, but that's the standard of beauty that very little girls are presented with from the time they can walk.
And even if you can get away from the impossibly high expectations for outward appearance, what about the new perceived standards for success? When I was a kid, my friends wanted to be doctors, or racecar drivers, or artists. (I wanted to be a gymnast, despite the fact that I'm now just a couple of inches shy of 6 feet.) But whatever our dreams were, we understood that they were things we would have to strive to attain our entire lives, goals that would only be reached through hard work and talent.
What do little girls want to be now? Famous. That's it. Not famous for curing cancer, or famous for Oscar-worthy acting ability. The only desire is for celebrity, and all the trappings that come with that lifestyle. How you get there is insignificant.
