Anyway, we are layin’ eyeballs on whatever it was that she wanted to watch and a commercial comes on. Not a commercial, exactly, but one of those “behind the scenes” looks at whatever the hot ‘tween show du jour is: you know, the ones that show shiny, buffed and/or artfully messy boys and girls running production studios or being fashion designers or just ‘chillin’ and being annoyingly “cool”. This one was interviews with the stars of the a show, purportedly showing you just achingly hip they are, and willing to share their “wisdom” with you. I’m sorry, it’s not wisdom they call it, it’s dating and fashion advice.
No problem so far. I’m a curmudgeon when it comes to stuff like this, but it seems pretty innocuous. The pretty little (and suspiciously well-attired; oh, right she has a wardrobe department and make-up staff and catering, etc.) pop starlet on screen is blabbering about how you can have an outfit that isn’t quite together but never fear! It can be fixed! She then proceeds to lay this little gem on us (not verbatim, but you’ll get it):
“The good thing about being a girl is that girls get to wear purses.”
I guess our little fashionista hasn’t seen anything like this:*
I know, I know, it’s all supposed to be good fun, something that will appeal to the ‘tween set** and get them all ‘in the know’. I was a little taken aback by it, though. Here we have one of the largest media companies in the world with tremendous influence over the (buying) decisions and impressions of millions of people, including young girls and their parents (otherwise known as ATM and Money Tree) who watch them all the time, and the best they can do is purses?
I am fortunate that Wee Lass is only four years old now, and a lot of the advertising that she sees is like water off a duck’s back. She never says anything about the commercials unless it is something very obvious like “Moon Sand” or “Princess Playset” and the like. But wouldn’t it be cool, just once or twice, to see an infomercial that the good thing about being a girl is that girls get to be:
A Head of State
or
A top-notch footballer
or
A Well-known Scientist
Or even a…
A Really Cool Mother
I don’t know. I am a little at sea as to how I can handle this when Wee Lass gets bigger and starts asking bigger, better questions about life and all its possibilities. I know it isn’t realistic to tell her that she can and will be able to do everything under the sun, but I don’t want her to grow up thinking that her life choices are to be dictated by what other individuals say she should be doing or who she should be. There is nothing inherently wrong with wanting to look pretty (and don’t we all?) and have good taste in fashion and exhibiting those traits traditionally associated with being a girl. She IS a girl, and I have a feeling she will grow up to be a spectacular woman.
I just hope that I can help her understand that what is important is that she be herself, to not let others dictate to her what she can and cannot do. And if that means she goes to college on a full soccer scholarship and wins a World Cup while studying nanotechnology whereupon she invents a little machine that can get rid of cancer and goes on to be President while raising two wonderful kids of her own, well, that would really cool. Not mandatory, but cool.
Head of state, footballer, scientist, mother or something different: She may be Daddy’s little girl, but more importantly, I hope she knows to be her own girl, purse and all.
*For you football, er, soccer fans out there, yes that is Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the best ‘ballers in the business. Pretty isn’t he, ladies? I hate him. He doesn’t play for Arsenal. Carries a manpurse well, though.
**In fairness, there was a well-groomed young lad in a polo shirt, cool jeans and some sort of Vans-like shoes, showing the ‘tween guys how to look cool. He did not have as much bling as the lass with the purse. Pity.
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