Girls Gone Mild

(I stole the title for this blog post from Wendy Shalit’s awesome book on a similar topic)


Have you met The Girls With Glasses?

This super-cute pair of young women is taking aim at media standards for female “success stories”—with a rare blend of humor and class.

In the video above, we see Brooke (Yes! Brooke White from American Idol!) and Summer learning the ropes of producing a successful reality television show. Cat fights, train wrecks, and foul language ensue. No, really. You’ll have to watch it to see what I mean.

What I really like about The Girls With Glasses and their show (see all the videos here) is that they demonstrate that girls don’t have to sell their dignity to be entertaining. Girls can be smart, funny, pretty, and cool without taking their clothes off or even getting drunk on TV.

But why the glasses? Here’s what they have to say about that:

“Glasses bring the world around you into clearer view: the vibrant details, the color, the fine print, all coming into focus. Not only are glasses practical, glasses are a defining and powerful accessory that can bring out the smart and savvy self that is inside all of us.”

That’s an example of the kind of thinking and empowerment I would be happy to give my growing daughters.

Especially in this video, these two young women might seem to be aiming at an easy target—the bottom of the barrel kind of reality television programming that passes for entertainment these days. But this happens to be a target no one else is aiming at these days.

Without smart and savvy young women like Brooke and Summer to point out the obvious—that this kind of programming is stupid and offensive—what are our young girls left to think?

(cross-posted at The Anchoress)

HT: Tony Rossi