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Why would any mother in her right mind encourage her two-year-old daughter to compete in Toddlers and Tiaras? Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton--who devoted their lives to freeing women from the bondages of society--would be turning in their graves if they heard such nonsense.
Are we still so insecure and frightened that we need to teach our daughters that beauty is to be valued over freedom? Do we really think that crowning a young girl with a tiara will make her a sleeping beauty whose prince charming will come along and take care of her for the rest of her life? We all know that the prince charming myth will only encourage our daughters to delude themselves with some distorted fantasy. The reality is that women and children in the United States, and abroad, still experience abuse. Let us work together to educate ourselves and create a safe and loving world for our beautiful daughters--not a world that will discourage and violate their natural spirit.
Maybe, you didn't get the tiara while growing up. Because you weren't "the chosen one," you quietly went to bed crying, loathing the person you were and wanting so much to look like the young woman who won the golden ring. You were never told how attractive you were no matter how you compared society's view of beauty. By desperately wanting your daughters to experience the thrill of the tiara, you lost sight of the fact that a plastic crown will do little to ensure their future. Indeed, we cannot change the future for our daughters until we unite and envision a world where all women are free.
2011 Wanda Horrell LCSW- R, NCPsyA ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
www.wandabehrenshorrell.com
wjb60@columbia.edu
