Newsweek Gone Naughty.

Newsweek has a piece out, “Girls Gone Bad,” on young female celebrities who may be turning our young girls into “prosti-tots.” No, I’m not kidding. “Prosti-tots.”
Specifically, the article uses teen idols like Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton as examples of these immoral lifestyles of debauchery that will lead girls to having sex at an early age and “partying” (excessive drugs and alcohol) like their admirees.
Honestly, I found the entire piece to come off as very confusing. For example, while it notes that the average age for (heterosexual) sex among women is still 17 (showing that sex trends have stayed pretty much the same) they begin the stat with, “Sex surveys are notoriously unreliable, but…”
I stopped taking the article seriously when the discussion seemed to shift towards Dan Kindlon’s Alpha Girls which contends that, “Girls born after 1990 live in a world where they have ready access to organized sports, safe contraception and Ivy League colleges.” HA!
The history of scrutiny that famous women have been subjected to due to their “immoral behavior” such as dating/marrying multiple men (or any other behavior which male stars do as well but are barely acknowledged) was discussed, but there was no analysis of these findings or merely a “WTF?”
Now does this mean I think Paris Hilton is an adequate role model for girls? Helllll no. The thought sort of disturbs me, particularly the class issues involved with so many girls’ obsession with Paris and Prada. (Which the article does touch on.) But I still have a wee problem with an article that denies gender issues exist but can discuss the moral issues involved with teen girls having a sexual identity.
In short, any piece that seriously uses the terms “the Brit Pack,” “Alpha Girls” and “Prosti-tots” is a bad sign.