Obviously this is not just lazy parenting. I try to talk to my daughter about this sort of thing but she just tunes me out. If there were a BOOK she would not only read it because she's a great reader, but i think if the points were made, in print, they'd have more weight. I have had an eye out for quite a while now but can't find a book.
Issues I want her to understand
- magazines and media put pressure on women to be one type of perfect
- she is entitled to be herself, she is not obliged to have less hairy legs for example. I won't berate her for colluding with beauty conventionsso to speak but i want her to understand that having hairy legs is nothing to be ashamed of.
- that she doesn't have to improve her hair, her eyebrows, eyelashes, skin colour etc, unless she really wants to, and if she really wants to, does she understand, can she articulate why she really wants to?
- that girls are girls. women are women, we make up fifty per cent of the population and we are not some tiny minority.
- to be aware of women in the media when they are portrayed through male eyes, portrayed as a fantasy of a woman.
I hope I'm on the right track here. Her father isn't around. So I don't want her to be out there craving the wrong type of love. I hope I'm not overdoing it with all my warnings.