Monday, 28 February 2011

Fallen Idols

If you ask anyone over a certain age who their idol was when they were growing up then the usual answer is, my mother, (not mine you understand, theirs) or grandmother or even a teacher they had in school. If you push further and ask who in the public eye inspired them, the replies vary from authors to musicians or even actresses.

Now, just for a laugh go and ask a 16 year old girl who they idolise (warning, make sure you know this 16 year old girl, don't just go and ask a random one on the street, they will think you are strange and call the police-or YouTube you to death)

Cheryl Cole is a popular choice, As is Coleen Rooney, as is Amy Childs (I had to Google)

I'm not even going to go down the WAG road here (well, I might, just a little bit)
But WHAT EXACTLY have these women and the countless others out there like them contributed to our society?

Other than teaching 16 year old girls to put up with their lying, cheating, other halves, and that is a lesson no-one should learn!!!!

In fact I'm damn right terrified that what the media is breeding here is so out of control that it is too late to stop it.

The media have played a huge part in contributing to the downfall of womens idols.

TV, magazines, newspapers, they all turn, reality tv stars, WAGS and pure mediocrity into media darlings, What they are wearing? how much do they weigh? what bag are they carrying? Who's arm are they on this week?

It is impossible to ignore. It is slowly drip fed into impressionable teens in so many different ways that soon it wouldn't surprise me if children were taught in school about becoming "media aware"

Because OBVIOUSLY that is the only way to go.

When I was growing up (many, many, many years ago) I wanted to be a nurse, or a journalist. Now girls want to be pop stars and on the TV. They want to be on the X factor, or Got to Dance or So You Think You Can Dance or an Andrew Lloyd Webber thingy-ma-jig (or even Take Me Out) The opportunities are everywhere and as popular TV is instant they see people like them be plucked from obscurity and then becoming a star in 6 weeks or less.

What has happened to working hard to achieve what you want? In any field? Starting at the bottom, working your way up, knocking on doors and experiencing countless knock backs but keeping on going?

Naaahhhhhhh thats's too much like hard work.

That isn't what our teens want, they want instant gratification, instant reward. And their  idols are showing them that is possible.

And I don't know about you but I find that damn scary.

Where are all the good role models for teens these days?

Big Fashionista x x


  1. This is a subject close to my heart. My disdain for the likes of Cheryl Cole knows no bounds. I think idolising a pop star is normal enough and as such I'm steering my kids in the direction of Pink who has some attitude and songs with meanings and important messages (as well as bubblegum pop too of course).

    When I was growing up I wanted to be a hairdresser, I should have followed my instincts as age 36 I still wish I was a hairdresser

    I don't suppose I care too much who my girls end up idolising so long as they are someone who stands for something. More than a tan and hair extensions and vacuous expressions.

    I'm not a supporter at all of the Pink Stinks Campaign, I am in fact a little opposed to it, but their list of role models on the site is fab!

  2. Sheila (@flinny2001)28 February 2011 at 12:10

    I can't say much about having a popstar idols, at 16 I was in a girl group and we were hailed as scotlands answer to the spice girls in the local paper. I wanted to be a spice girl! (please don't judge)

    Now that was 16, by 17 I had a job and had started looking up to girls I worked with, the ones studying to be lawyers, doctors and one who knew the editor of smash hits (I thought this girl was COOL) but I realised there was more to life than singing for your supper and went back a bit to what I wanted to be when I was 14, a hotel manager and looked up to our general manager the only female GM in Glasgow at the time.

    I think if the media made more of an effort to report about REAL peoples achievements then more 16 year olds would want to be doctors and lawyers or even be editor of smash hits!

  3. When I was 15, I decided I wanted to be Carrie Bradshaw. A journalism degree and 7 years of writing later, I have discovered that it doesn't involve spending a couple of hours in your pants flicking through Vogue and the rest of the week wearing £400 shoes and brunching, but it has made me a good living.

    But I would also like to be Beyonce ;)

  4. Emma Peel, she was Pretty, funny & could kick ass. A strong independant woman.
    I think the trouble nowadays is that anything and everything the celeb's do is in the media straight away. So we get to see that they mess up like the rest of us mere mortals and we find out they are human after all. Gone are the days when these indiscretions are hidden under a carpet.
    I remember the Sun saying Graig David was boring as he didn't drink or do drugs while bigging up Robbie Williams for his outrageous behaviour.
    All the actor and actresses that behave like normal humans just don't get the press coverage. Too boring to write about. I no longer buy papers etc, and if anything offends me on TV I just switch channels.


  5. I love love love this post - its like your reading my mind! I've just done a little post about it on my blog, as my post of the week


  6. as a 17 year old girl i have to say that there aren't many people I want to idolise. I think there aren't many great idols out there for teens these days!

  7. Big Sigh! I am afraid you are so right; the value systems for young women and men are all messed up. That generation seem to think that they can walk into a well paid job with nothing to offer. They don't want to work hard in order to make their dreams come true they want it all now. Very worrying! Also in terms of role models it is indeed a tragic case that decades ago young girls aspired to have real careers but now they want to be like silly pop singers who cannot actually sing, or bag a footballer or worse be like Jordan. But can you blame them? We see ordinary girls becoming adored A listers and marrying rich and famous men and living the fantasy life with no effort whatsoever, so of course they will think if they can do it so can I.

  8. I've just been reading through your rants, and this one made me stop and think. I'm a teenager, and it insults me that you're generalising teenagers as being fame obsessed, shallow and in awe of celebrities. Quite frankly Cheryl Cole is one of the people I would never idolise, as is Coleen Rooney. It irritates me so much how people think of Cheryl as 'the nation's sweetheart'; did these people forget she famously and racistly attacked a woman when she was finding fame?! I'd rather eat my own shoes than idolise someone famous for being famous, thin and being a mug!



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