A Terribly Girly Situation

Ever since we watched the video clip on Youtube of the girl from Miss Teen USA, I have been assiduously considering first of all why girls act the way they do, and secondly, why people find it so appealing and entertaining to watch. From where I stand personally, when I see someone acting unbelievably "stupid", I immediately assume that they are acting that way on purpose. In this case however, it is very apparent that this girl is completely serious with herself, which is the worst part of all. How have we allowed ourselves to grow up with such an obilivious attitude concerning the values of intelligence? The most upsetting part of this is the fact that it is girls who are getting pegged with this "dumb" image, when the truth is that we all contribute to the problem. So perhaps it is our own faults, not just the girls, but the weaknesses in all people who play to this and accept it as entertainment. When a girl acts unintelligent, more often than not, she will recieve attention for it. This sick sycophantic method plays to the way in which others seems to already perceive them, and the result is that sought-after focus. Whether it be a post on youtube.com, or a simple discussion among friends, energy is still being invested in it regardless. If young girls are then growing up in a world with that mindset, they may inturn not only see that way of behaving as "funny" themselves, but also adopt it into their own way of being. This is wrong on so many levels. We are essentailly allowing women to be demeaned, and for the girls who choose to take on that image, demeaning women themselves as well. This is destructive for those women who are intelligent and are now perceived with an image that is less than what they deserve. As for those who do not know any better, they will undeniably feel no need to become more intellectual, and the result is shown in the perfect example of Miss Teen Carolina USA.

I believe that beyond all of these circumstances, is the matter that this issue presents us with a greater perspective on a very important aspect of our society in this day and age. Although this issue impacts many people negatively, it allows us to become more aware of ourselves and our actions, so is perhaps not an entirely bad thing, The issue that this video-clip brings up is a perfect example of our societies overly competetive and somewhat self-destructive nature. I don't think anyone can deny that when someone is observed doing something "unintelligent," that is makes us either confounded with them or feel better about our own state of mind. The factor of intelligence plays to the ego of every person alive. It is human nature to feel competetive, but as a collective culture, we have come to rely too heavily on the downfalls of others for a boost in our opinions of ourselves. In a sense we get enjoyment and entertainment by seeing those who appear "less" than ourselves displayed, because we feel (inaccurately) superior- a terribly flawed way of viewing the world. This issue of comparing ourselves to others has been present for all of time, but never to this degree. It is only in the past 100 years that apparent intellectual abilities have become such a severve issue of gender equality. We have evolved from the days when men were distinguished as more capable than women because of physical abilities and control, power, etc., but this seems to be setting us back just as much. This tactic for discriminative correlation can never be very accurate though-intelligence exists as such a relative and expansive commodity and cannot be targeted to certain aspect of life, hence the phrase "everyone is smart in their own way."

Is their really anything we can do about this considering how much it is part of us? I believe that there isn't, not collectively anyways. This is not the kind of thing that we can come together for and tackle through public awareness. In fact it really requires nothing other than altering our mindsets on an individual basis. There will never be a way to prevent people from circulating stories and images of unequivocally "harmless" girls doing stupid things, the only thing we have the ability to do is acknowledge why it is we find these things entertaining, and perhaps that will be enough to allow us to come to terms with the fact that it wrong. The same applies to those who are circulating such content, and the "dumb girls" who are acting as fuel for the fire. They need to realize that it is not an acceptable way to be "entertaining" and consider that they are not only hurting themselves. And finally, I personally believe that it is the responsibilty of all of us as members of a collective society, to make education, (........especially in the Iraq and such as South Africa......) even more of an ideal than it is now, so that we will no longer have this issue an we can build our future!!

For Miss South Carolina's rebuttle to her answer click here., and to see just how much people can do with material like this- watch.