The media finally catch up

Two interesting articles have appeared in the past two days about celebrity hype.... 

One had the good sense to quote me and mention  my book All Made Up: A Girl's Guide to Seeing Through Celebrity Hype and Celebrating Real Beauty.

Check out a great deconstruction ("Pop Singer Makes Slaving for Beauty Look Ugly") about Pink and Stupid Girls at Women's eNews  and another smart piece about media aimed at young women ("Return of the Brainless Hussies") at Salon.com  (Note:  to read a full article at Salon you either have to be a subscriber or get a 'day pass' which is free.  All you do is click to read the article, but before seeing the rest of the text you have to look at a full page ad.  Perfect time to check your email and then continue to the rest of the piece.  It's well worth it!)

*******

And I just wanted to say how COOOOOL my national radio tour has been.  Like when I was on the Leeza Gibbons show and she kept saying "I LOVE this book."  Or when I got on the line with DJ Karen Clauss KSMG FM in San Antonio.... and she cancelled on me on the spot because she wants to be bring me on for a whole half hour sometime in the next few weeks instead so we can really get into these issues and how they affect young women. (I'll keep you posted about when that's supposed to air).

It's been fantastic... and encouraging to know that the media--the entities that shape our pop culture--are taking about these important issues...

And hi to all my new readers who have come on over from Mariska's blog!  I'm having a blast reading all your smart comments... so thanks for posting!

Comments

[Kelly]

That article about Pink's music video was an interesting read. I agree with what one girl said in the article, about the binging and purging. It actually turned me off of the video as I felt it was making fun of an extremely serious illness. I dont feel that I am a 'stupid girl' and nor do I believe that people with eating disorders are stupid girls. I think the overall message is an extremely important one though and I am glad she is so vocal about it.

[g]

Very thought-provoking article. I mean, all my friends use fake tan, get their hair dyed and who knows what else? On the other hand, these people can just say: "But, like, all she's doing is saying I'm stupid."
which is NOT the right way to go about it. Howzabout she start a campaign? Instead of calling these girls "stupid" how about explaing what they're DOING to themselves?

Oh, well. At least she's starting something...

[Audrey]

Kelly: VERY interesting point about the use of "stupid" I can see what you mean about how that bit in the middle of the video might be taken as making light of eating disorders. But when I watch the video, I get the sense that she doesn't mean that the girls themselves are stupid, but that they are ACTING stupid. My interpretation of Pink's defintion of a "stupid girl" is someone who is probably actually smart, but who is dumbing herself down because of all the pop culture icons who seem to be doing it and getting famous ("Is Chicken of the Sea tuna or chicken?" AHEM.. you know who you are!)

Now I haven't met Pink, so I can't say for sure that that's her intention....but that's the feeling I get since the lyrics go "Maybe if I ACT like that/ that guy will call me back" etc. She seems to be critiquing girls who ACT like stupid girls (and I guess that includes people who think that eating more than 300 calories isn't sexy.)

[Kelly]

I guess it just sort of bothered me because I have never been viewed as a 'stupid girl.' I'm extremely vocal about women's rights and I just won a 4 year scholarship into a Woman's Studies program. I try to focus on inner beauty in everyone over the exterior. I guess it doesnt make any sense that Im saying that though since I do suffer from an eating disorder and although there is an obvious need to be skinny for me, its about more then just that. I dont think she actually understands what eating disorders truly are.

However, since her main focus is the media and there negative influence on girls and women I completely see where she is getting at with that one scene.

I truly believe that this video is a must see for every little girl, teen, and woman. Influences need to be put else where so that good can be done instead of the other things that are going on. I think that she, and others such as yourself will definitely have a positive impact on girls and hopefully one day soon we will see a huge change!