Girls Gone Wild

One of the magazines I subscribe to, Newsweek, had an article that is very interesting to me, given I am the father of a 13 year old. The article is entitled 'The Girls Gone Wild Effect', and it is about the increasingly broad appeal in the media to young girls today of "bad example" celebrities like Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears.
It asks if we are now raising a generation of young children who dress like hookers, live for designer wear and care little about the values of education, respect, hard work and other things society must pass on to the young. Or does the popularity of the wild young female celebrity bad behavior signal something even worse, coarsening of culture and a devaluation of values about sex, love, lasting relationships etc.?
Well, I don't know which. But I do know a lot of parents of young girls are worried about the effect of those spoiled celebrities on their kids. So far Jane pays no attention to them . She still lives more in the little girl world, watches Disney and Nickelodeon TV, doesn't have a big interest in boys yet, is in a class at school with similar innocent kids and frankly pays no attention to those celebrities. But that will change as she grows. I think there is a subtle negative effect of bad behavior by celebrities, and some imitation of that by kids.
The article goes on about transmission of values, making the point that we can't let Lindsay and Paris set values for kids or they will wind up the same mess that those celebrities are in themselves. It has become more important for the home and parent to set good examples. I wonder if that is happening? Do you think so? Has society become so enamored with dysfunctional celebrities that they are now the model for kids?
I think kids are vulnerable to the lure of the Lindsay Lohans, and that it takes a well grounded child to resist that kind of flash. Newsweek wrote that studies are showing teenage girls are now much more likely to behave like Lindsay and the rest the ":stars" than before, and that repeated exposure to the vulgarity of the celebrities is affecting quite a few kids. Haha Imagine a world of Paris Hilton's. The job description of those ladies might be ' Empty-Headed Immoral Party Girl'. I don't want my daughter to be that one of those.
On the other hand young girls today have so much more access to positive images too- to success in sports, high achieving women , opportunities to do anything they wish. So I guess it comes down to a question of parenting. Am I right that the parent has the advantage in this game? Parents do have kids from birth, every day and if they teach the right values to kids they should react to Lindsay and the rest just like most adults do. They will see they are just a freak show not worth imitating.
Sigh...It's not easy being a parent.