Friday, April 10, 2015

NON-ROLE MODEL

Empowerment! That's the word every girl needs to learn at a young age, right after "contraception." People love empowered women (or at least the idea of empowered women) -- strong, self-confident, taking no BS from anyone. That's why girls need to have those role models starting at a young age, whether real or animated, as this news flash from Deadline Hollywood reports:


Meet the new Hello Kitty.
Yes, who else better exemplifies an empowered woman than an alcoholic, depressed, drug-addicted movie star whose version of "Nice to meet you" to men consisted of sleeping with them, and allowed herself to be used as a courtesan for a certain president and his attorney-general brother? One who never knew the meaning of "learn your lines and show up on time" and whose death is best described as suspicious?

Welcome to the new world of empowerment, where "taking risks" means mixing Stolichnaya with Nembutals, "confidence" is unprotected sex with Milton Berle, and "reaching for dreams" leads death at age 36. Line up, girls, and take a ticket.

And she had excellent posture.
I know it's too much to ask for, say, Marie Curie, Susan B. Anthony, Eleanor Roosevelt, Sandra Day O'Connor, or Margaret Mead to be considered as role models -- you know, non-movie stars. So if it has to be an actress, I'd prefer my daughter to emulate Meryl Streep, Jodie Foster, Angela Bassett, Lily Tomlin, Alfre Woodard, Sandra Bullock, Helen Mirren, Emma Thompson -- hey, I'd settle for ZaSu Pitts. She could do drama and comedy!

Because women who emulate Marilyn Monroe are not only pale imitations -- for, to give her credit, she was an original -- they also wind up jumping the rails at a young age. Jayne Mansfield (dead at 34), Marilyn Maxwell (dead at 51), Barbara Payton (dead at 40), Anna Nicole Smith (dead at 39)... 

Hey Madonna, the only thing shocking about this
is that you think this shit is sexy at 56.
And those who haven't died -- Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Madonna, Mamie van Doren (84 this year!) -- become washed-up or irrelevant or self-parodies -- or washed-up, irrelevant self-parodies -- because all they have to sell is alleged sex appeal. In fact, I would say that right now, pretty much every woman reading this piece is more empowered and would be a better role model than Marilyn Monroe. 

Call me out of touch, but I can't figure out why a pathetic movie star, dead over half a century, whose behavior led the studio to suspend her just before her death, and whose shtick appears more passe as time goes on, is somehow held up as something for little girls to admire. Parents instead should hang up a flashing sign in their daughters' rooms:

WARNING: IMITATING MARILYN MONROE CAN BE DANGEROUS TO YOUR HEALTH, SELF-ESTEEM, SELF-CONFIDENCE, AND CAN LEAD TO SLEEPING WITH PRESIDENTS AND THEIR BROTHERS, FOLLOWED BY AN EARLY DEATH
 
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