Paris Hilton. Britney Spears. Lindsey Lohan. Vanessa Hudgens. Kirsten Storms.

What do all these girls have in common? 

Well quite frankly, they're terrible role models for today's young girls.

Everyone is quite familar with the first three. Some may not know much about the latter two.

Vanessa Hudgens is pretty well-known, especially among pre-teens and teens. She is the leading lady in the very popular High School Musical movies, co-starring with her on and off screen boyfriend Zac Efron. She is a seemingly sweet and innocent girl, and only 18 years old, so I was quite shocked to discover that she had posed for nude photos that have crept their way to the Internet. In her apology she claims that she is sorry and embarassed about the pictures, but what I am still trying to figure out is why someone who is in the public eye would do something in private that, if exposed to the public, would be embarassing. But obviously the problem is that she wasn't thinking about it.

And then there's Kirsten Storms, who was better known to Disney fans a few years back when she starred in the Zenon movies. She currently voices a character for the Disney animated series Kim Possible and is also known for her role in a soap opera. Apparently she was arrested for DUI (gee, that seems to running rampant in Hollywood... I'm never making plans to drive around there). And what particularly upsets me about Kirsten Storms' charge is the fact that she is supposed to be a Christian. She was on the cover of Brio, a magazine for Christian teen girls, a few years back, and I was subscribed to the magazine at the time and thought it was so awesome that she was a Christian. And now she has ruined that reputation. Drinking (legally) is not inheritantly wrong, but getting drunk and then driving is a completely different story. 

It's always bugged me how much Americans idolize celebrities. They continously fail us. They divorce. They have affairs. They drive drunk. They do drugs. I'm not saying all celebrities do these things, but it does seem quite prevelant.  And lately, the focus of celebrity news has been on girls my age (give or take a few years). Adolescents are looking for a role model. They may not consciously realize it, but they are. They are trying to figure out who they are and form an identity, and they look up to older guys and girls. And when they see these girls and what they do... that's something that come to think is ok.

You would think these celebrities would have some respect for themselves, as well as for others. But they don't. They're just living in the moment, doing what feels good, trying to find something to satisfy them. They don't value the responsibility they have as being public figures. They have millions of dollars, all the stuff they could want, but they're miserable, and we IDOLIZE them! Why do we do that? Why do we admire people merely based off their riches, looks, or talents? Since when do these things matter more than a person's CHARACTER?  

I learned many years ago, after having a few role models, that people will disappoint you, whether they are in the public eye or the people you encounter in your life. Everyone makes mistakes. No one is worthy of being idolized. But there's nothing wrong with admiring somene's attributes, and we have to be so careful as to who we're admiring and what we're admiring about them. Just because someone is on TV, has great hair, and a lot of money, it does not mean they are a person that deserves admiration. I think many young girls fail to see that, however. It's not that they're shallow, it's just they like something about an actress or singer and decide they want to be just like her. 

I remember a couple of months ago I was in Fossil and they were playing the edited version of Avril Lavigne's song "Girlfriend". Now, I'm a fan of Avril's old stuff, but the message of (and the language in) this song just makes me cringe! Anyhow, a couple of girls that could not have been older than thirteen walked by me, singing along with the song. Now, if it had been "Complicated", I would not have been so concerned, but this song is all about a girl whining to a guy that she hates his girlfriend and trying to convince him that she would be better. Personally, that would not be a message I would want my thirteen year old daughter to be exposed to.

So it's not just the individual person, but the art they produce... whether it be music or movies. Some stars, like Natalie Portman, actually do a pretty decent job of selecting their roles carefully and trying to be a positive role model through their movie characters. If only everyone would put that kind of care and attention into what they did. What would even be greater was that if the media would reward and promote such behavior. 

But sadly, the headlines scream about the girls gone wild: the ones who get arrested, who party without panties, who pose nude. It fascinates us. It arouses our attention. It generates talk. I just wrote a really long blog entry about it. The celebrities are getting what they want: attention. It's what they crave, whether it be negative or positive. They don't care if it's affecting adolescents. Granted, they don't make girls go wild, and teens are not helplessly suspectible to or brainwashed by these stars, but it is most certainly affecting them and our society as a whole.