A Return to Modesty

I listen to NPR at work. Today, I had hope for this world.

On the Diane Rehm show this morning, they did a show on the influence that Paris Hilton, Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan are having on young girls. They used a ridiculous quote by Paris Hilton as an example of the “bad girl” persona that is seemingly popular. But I’d like to thank Paris for being such an idiot, that there almost no feelings of admiration anymore amongst a lot of teenagers and 20-somethings. I smile as I hear that, “many girls are back-lashing the ‘bad girl’ and looking towards modesty and self-respect”.

Diane is interviewing Wendy Shalit, the author of Girls Gone Mild. My favorite part of the show at this point (as I am still listening to it) is a comment made by Wendy, “I always heard in our Sex-Ed class in school that talking about your private parts is like talking about your elbow. Well, what about now when we constantly see Britney Spears’ ‘elbow’?” She reads letters from a young girl asking advice when a teacher tells her, “Sex is something that you should be doing by the third date or get ready to be dumped.” I am totally impressed with the things that this woman has said on the show. She emphasized not acting on feelings because of pressure, being a responsible parent when it comes to discipline and understanding that it is “not bad to be good”.