Girls, Girls, Girls and the Media

There must be a thousand new initiatives that have the goal of enabling and inspiring young girls to become powerful girls and women.  Women have been pushing for equal treatment and equal pay since the 1920s, and it's only right seeing as how women and girls control billions of dollars in buying power, manage to start business and families consecutively and has increased productivity of legislatures and governments across the globe.

But here comes the twist.  Despite the moves being made to tell women that they are worth every penny they spend (times 1000), despite philanthropic processes to send underrepresented women to college and the consideration given to girls in "depriving" cultures who don't have the freedoms of every other girl in America to be expressive and an individual there is still unfair treatment within the orientation, there are divisions among class, color, size and education, even style, hair color and culture separate women.  Whether it is the media or the economy of our melting pot of cultures that is procuring this division and pitting-against of women in America the effects aren't going unnoticed.

Ok, this year marked a ton of instances where women were put in the limelight.  Sarah Palin continued to show her ass, Oprah stopped the NBA Finals so that she can end her show, Chaz Bono decided to become a man, and without further description, Basketball Wives, all of the Real Housewives series, Bridezillas and Tough Love have done their part in MANipulating how entitled, selfish, mis-informed and disengaged women, allegedly, are.  

Devoted Mom or Education Thief

And then there is the legislature.  How many of us watched as Kelly Bolar, a devoted mother, was sentenced to 10 days in jail followed by probation after being convicted of "stealing" an education for her son.  When in fact all she did was send her son to an elementary school in her father's neighborhood, it was a better school than the inner-city school in her immediate neighborhood.  School officials claim that the cost of the education was approximately $30,500 for the 4 years her son was enrolled.  

I thought the charges were erroneous, in a country where we are pushed to do what we have to do to survive, get in where you fit in, and make sure you get everything you are supposed to get.  In this particular case the charges weren't overturned but Bolar's sentence was decreased to just probation.  (no one has said anything about the disparities in the funds applied per student and how they differentiate between inner-city and suburban Ohio public schools).

It just all seemed a bit harsh to treat this loving single working mother this way.  I mean, I can see if she was a party animal that would abandon her child for days at a time, partying and doing who knows what. It's not like she murdered her child or was forcing him to steal from neighborhood pawn shops.  

What does this tell black single mothers?  And I know a ton of black single mothers who are doing everything they can for their sons and daughters to halt them from becoming a statistic.  Unlike some other people that have been thrust into the limelight.

Casey "I'ma good mother" Anthony ... I'm just sayin!

Casey Anthony caused the state of Florida to spend more than a million dollars in search of her dead daughter and a truth in her web of lies.  She walks free.  

While single mother Janelle from popular MTV reality show 16 and Pregnant has about 4 drug-related infractions under her belt, and manages to make upwards of $75k a year.

In fact, the entire cast of 16 and Pregnant and its spinoff Teen Mom and Teen Mom 2 have made young girls familiar with the possible popularity of having a baby so young.  Which is funny, because this show was originally thought to show young women how challenging it is to become a mother too soon.  There are now reports of girls getting pregnant in hopes of being cast in a reality show.

Ain't that a mess?  This is what we are teaching lil white girls!

While lil Muslim girls are being killed by their fathers for becoming too American, this country really has a to invest a lot more when it comes to NOT streamlining the mindset of women into the uber-materialistic, commercial media whores that the majority is clearly becoming.  

Strippers being swept off their feet to marry football players or rappers and small town girls catching the eye of tech and internet CEOs is a rare occassion, but thanks to media at the rate we are going, women can get away with murder, as long as they look the part... 

Amanda Knox was recently freed of all charges of murder in Italy!

Black in the City is a realist type blog...I'm just calling them how I see them.  The American viewer is becoming seduced by the wiles of women who are of a small community among us.  There is a backwards movement going on here, and its moving much faster than the Girls, Inc. of the country, even the Barbie mantra of independence has been tainted by the bumping and grinding of our newest clown apparent representative 

Fried chicken necklace, raw talent? Confused much?

So, here's the call to action.  

1. Turn off these shows that depict women as confused followers of false celebrities.  
2. Read a book by one of the countries most esteemed female authors (um, the editors at Vogue, Cosmopolitan and ELLE aren't authors, so reach for a little Maya, Iyanla or Zora)  
3. Become a mentor and do what you can to speak some common sense into these young girls heads.  Let them know that every marriage doesn't have to start out of pity and end with divorce, not having a daddy is no longer an excuse, self confidence does not mean you can last the whole day in high school without taking off your 4 inch stilettos, creating classic style is long lasting and helps maintain your balance so that newer issues can be confronted as they come.  
4. Get organized, write a plan that doesn't include sizing yourself up to everyone else. 
5. Get help when you need it, stop internalizing and, by all means, be a woman...if anything else, remain steadfast with your standards and growth pattern.

(drops the mic) Stay pretty Divas

ttyl.

ok, so after I posted this I was forwarded this video of a little girl performing Nicki Minaj's Super Bass (which is a song laden with expletives and sexual innuendos), this further influences me to teach my kids the "Ain't I A Woman" speech Sojourner Truth graced an audience with back in 1851.)