14 DAY TRIAL // The world spends most of the time looking at the celebrity “elite,” and occasionally trying to emulate, on a much smaller scale, what they see there. Our celebrity culture is as it is but, as a new study shows, if it’s not filtered, it’s our teenage daughters that have the most to suffer from it, since they grow up to believe that marrying or becoming the girlfriend of a celebrity is what they want from life.
Undertaken by the British Girls’ School Association, on the occasion of the launch of a new site called MyDaughter, which aims to help teens deal with age-specific issues, the poll showed that WAGs (Wife And Girlfriends) ranked the highest in terms of negative influence on youngsters. They make girls give up academic learning, in order to aspire to, some day, become the partner of a celebrity, as D-lister as he might be, opting for high-heels and low IQs as a way of life.
“Parents are trying to inculcate in their daughters a strong work ethic and principles, and anything which leads them to believe marrying somebody or becoming somebody’s girlfriend is what their aim in life should be demeans them and diminishes them,” said Pat Langham, head of Wakefield Girls’ High School and a former president of the Association undertaking the poll.
However, given that the girls in question are surrounded almost constantly by such models (from their peers to the celebrities they so admire), it’s up to the parents to make them see the difference between the options that are presented to them. “If they believe that having cosmetic surgery, hair extensions and a good handbag will bag them a footballer and therefore fulfill their career aspirations, then they need better career aspirations.” Langham also said, drawing attention to the way parents must handle the situation.
Other bad influences that must be counteracted by parents are the so-called “It girls,” reality TV stars and, last but not least, celebrity magazines. Nevertheless, going to show that not all television is bad television, the same poll showed that TV shows like the long-running “ER” and “Casualty” prompt young girls to opt for a career in medicine.