Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Where Have All the Smart Girls Gone?

I am hoping for a cultural shift.  For some time now I have found myself extremely discontent with the way our society, particularly our pop culture and the figures we lionize.  Now I don't mean to get all hippy-dippy here, but hear me out.

I miss the 90s.  I miss the empowered female singers like Fiona Apple, Jewel, Liz Phair, and the like.  It used to be so cool for chicks to have a fuck you attitude towards both the men in their lives as well as the culture that reveres them.  I miss the fact that it used to be cool for chicks to be smart.  I miss Daria, and Tabitha Soren.


But I'm expecting that to change soon.  In the late 80s we were all about preppy clothes, wall street values, and money, money, money.  Sure, there was also glam rock, and new wave mixed in there, but for the most part we loved being part of our consumerist culture and everything that entailed.  And with that included the rise of the supermodels, and women being arm candy and objects.  And in the mid-90s that totally changed.  Grunge ruled the airwaves and smart girls were all the rage.

Sometime in the late 90s/early 00s, this shifted and with the help of people like Paris Hilton and reality TV we went back to that culture whose values were based on what we owned and how we looked.  The smart girl was dead, and so was a little bit of me.

But I'm ready for this to change.  I want it to be about the smart girls again.  I want girls who read, write, and express their opinions.  Basically, I want some like minded people, and yes, maybe this is a little naive, but a girl can dream, can't she?

1 comment:

Benny said...

The dearth of smart girls hurts men, too. Women are not the only victims!

I realized that when I found myself having a crush on Liz Lemon like I hadn't had on a character in many, many years. And she's not even that smart!

I do, however, feel like we're getting away from the "Paris Hilton" era. Not fast enough, though!