{"id":1580,"date":"2011-06-21T09:02:00","date_gmt":"2011-06-21T09:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/79.170.44.80\/livingwithkids.co.uk\/the-dumbing-down-of-girls\/"},"modified":"2014-05-16T12:08:25","modified_gmt":"2014-05-16T12:08:25","slug":"the-dumbing-down-of-girls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/the-dumbing-down-of-girls\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dumbing Down of Girls"},"content":{"rendered":"Following on from my “Kids or Teens<\/a>” blogpost last week about kids dressing in over sexualised ways, it was interesting to read the views of headmistress Helen Wright in the papers at the weekend.\r\n\r\nShe was warning that celebrity culture and social networking sites risk spawning a generation of dumb and shallow girls. She said, \u201cYoung women are under extreme pressure to shun intellectual interest and conform to images of women who lack depth and are obsessed with looks.\u201d\r\n\r\nWhile I don\u2019t believe you can lay the blame for this at the door of social networking sites (back in my day they blamed teen magazines) I do think she\u2019s right about celebrity culture.\r\n\r\n\"\"\r\n\r\npicture credit: itv.com http:\/\/www.itv.com\/channels\/itv2\/itv2shows\/\r\ntheonlywayisessex\/hotphotos\/<\/span>\r\n\r\nEvery time I read a paper I am faced with another wannabe WAG selling her story about an affair, or the girls from TOWIE making dumb look fun.\r\n\r\nFrom the work I do with teenage girls and the letters I receive from them (I\u2019m also an advice columnist for a teen magazine) \u2013 I can see that celebrity culture is encouraging ever younger girls to think surface image is everything.\r\n\r\n\u201cWhy should I study?\u201d said one 13 year old in an email to me, \u201cI want to be famous so I don\u2019t need exams for that.\u201d Another 12 year old complains that she doesn\u2019t look like Rihanna (who does?) and another about wanting a boob job at 15 years old.\r\n\r\nI\u2019d like to think they will grow out of it and that it\u2019s a rite of passage but with self esteem and body image issues sky rocketing and girls as young at 7 years saying they feel under pressure to be \u201cpretty and thin\u201d I\u2019m beginning to think it won\u2019t.\r\n\r\nThe solution says Helen Wright is that we as mothers and parents need to be braver and complain louder about how women are portrayed. She\u2019s right but I also think we also have to balance up what they will inevitably see and hear with talk about achievements and the importance of personality. It\u2019s not about banning one for the other, but showing that there are plenty of benefits to not dumbing down.\r\n\r\nWhat do you think?\r\n\r\nAnita<\/em><\/span><\/strong>\r\n\r\nDeal of the<\/span> day:<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe newest Kidstart Deal<\/a> is now on! Find safe, local, easy childcare for only \u00a320 (normally \u00a340)","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anita discusses whether celebrity culture will influence the way kids grow up.","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3503],"tags":[2060,2169,2170,2171,2063,2172,1528,2173,2174],"class_list":["post-1580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-great-family-life-tips","category-parenting-advice-from-parents","tag-anita","tag-celebrity","tag-headmistress","tag-helen-wright","tag-naik","tag-rihanna","tag-social-networking","tag-the-only-way-is-essex","tag-towie"],"yoast_head":"\r\nThe Dumbing Down of Girls - KidStart Magazine<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/the-dumbing-down-of-girls\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Dumbing Down of Girls - 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