When you were younger, what did you aspire to be? If you’re anything like myself, I had dreams of living the life of a Disney princess: Ariel to be exact. Aside from the obvious reasons, I could not possibly be like my mermaid friend, I unknowingly had unrealistic aspirations for my love life. In her new book, Caitlin Flanagan argues that for years, young girls have been fed the idea that they will someday, meet their Prince Charming, marry and live happily ever after. As college-aged women now, we know that this is not the case. In fact, very few of us probably have this ideal in mind. Why am I restating what you already know or crushing young girls’ dreams? You can thank my habits of listening to NPR and Flanagan’s latest book, Girl Land.
Flanagan was a speaker on Tom Ashbrook’s On Point. Her book focuses on protecting the girlhood that she claims has been stripped away due to modern ideals. She states, “the emotional life of a little girl is drenched with romance” and although “little girls love romantic stories,” they have “no idea what adult sexuality is like.” Flanagan’s Girl Land is everything we loved as little girls: the color pink, crowns and tiaras, princess stories, Barbies… you name it. She claims that Girl Land is slowly disappearing, thanks to modern society’s “overexposure” to Internet porn and “rushed sexualization.” We know that growth inspires change, and this change may be difficult for some to cope with. However, Flanagan hopes that modern mothers will continue to instill Girl Land ideals in their young daughters, thereby shielding them from modern society’s advances in technology and ideals.
As one can assume, critics and NPR listeners alike attacked the book. They argue that Flanagan is living too much in the past. The critics seemed to be those who tend to embrace modern society’s technological advances. However, in listening to Flanagan, it is clear that she fully believes in embracing the modernization of society in terms of girlhood as well as instilling old-school ideals. Flanagan is really only attempting to open our minds to the morals and values our parents lived by and compare them to the morals and values we encounter today. In essence, she is requiring us to not only embrace the present but to also remember the past. Her book focuses on protecting young girls’ minds as long as possible, for they have the rest of their lives to be exposed to this modern “sexualization.”
Her book begs the question: where do we, as college women, stand in this situation? We clearly have succumbed to modern technology. Do we feel as though our mothers protected and shielded our young minds adequately? Or, do we feel as though young girls need to be protected? It is true that the technological advances have spurred interest in the youth; babies playing games on iPhones, middle school-aged children using Facebook, but what kind of harm does this cause, if any?
It seems utterly impossible for us to ignore the fact that our society is changing rapidly, and shielding young children from this change seems to be unfair. However, it can be argued that young children are being overexposed to some of the less age-appropriate aspects of modern society through television, the Internet and magazines. Flanagan may be on to something, though. Girlhood is meant to be the innocent period of adolescence for young girls. As college women, we have arrived at the difficult realization and understanding that life is not always as simple as the fairy tales we once relied on. We can all agree that sometimes we would love to go back and revisit those days of Barbies, tea parties and classic Disney marathons. It’s all a part of growing up.
Here is a link to the NPR talk: http://onpoint.wbur.org/2012/01/18/caitlin-flanagan