"I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best." - Marilyn Monroe
So I opened this week's Time magazine, and there it was: "The Truth About Teen Girls." Uh-oh, I guess they figured us out. Another article about how we have gotten so bad, so sexy, so fast. We've all heard it - teen girls are all dressing hot and having sex and generally messing up.
Most people seem to agree - blame it on the media. Even the media blames it on the media. It's shows like Gossip Girl and The Hills and celebrities like Miley Cyrus and Jamie Lynn Spears - all over the place, making a bad influence, they say. It's everywhere, sure. But is it everything? I'm not convinced.
It's like this - there's a huge 4-page spread about what's happened to us bad girls, filled with references to and a picture of Miley's infamous Vogue shoot. But then, in a small corner of page 54, there's a different story, by Miley herself, about the importance of service. In fact, she's having her Sweet 16 birthday party at Disneyland with Youth Service America, which supports young volunteers. I had never heard about that. And that's exactly the point.
The media may be filled with naughty shows and celebrity gossip, but there is also so much time devoted to talking about how bad it is and how bad teens are now because of all this bad stuff. And on a smaller scale, what's up with Miley is what's up with the rest of teen girl America. Sure, we make mistakes. And maybe there are some girls who have gone just a little too far. But what about all the amazing things girls are doing now? I know plenty of talented girls, athletes and volunteers and smart cookies and good friends. What about that epidemic? That's not interesting enough, I guess. It's like a cycle - the media talks about all these bad girls and then that's all we focus on and then they talk about how that's all we talk about. It's kinda silly.
Anyways, I guess what you see isn't always what you get. I know how Fab you are, FGs. Keep shining - they'll get it someday.
