Where's Lassie When We Need Her?

                                                                                                Cartoon created by TexasTrailerParkTrash (aka Ima June Pullet)

Disinterring Ophelia

"It is the false steward, that stole his master's daughter."

Bristol Palin's coupe de mere this week, the ubiquitous airing of Mel Gibson's verbal sexual abuse, and my accidental viewing of Lady Gaga's "Alejandro" video have convinced me that it's time to re-empower those who mother adolescent girls. I am reared up over the cynical forces that undermine and threaten to bury the tender developing selves of our daughters, so break out your copy of Hamlet (or watch any filmed version other than Gibson's); it's time to disinter Ophelia.

In Shakespeare's Hamlet, Ophelia's fate demonstrates the fragility of a young girl's hold on stability and safety. In adolescence, she begins to live for the approval of her father and of Hamlet, with whom she has fallen in love. Hamlet is pre-occupied with his own demons and rejects her; subsequently she loses her grip on reality, dresses in her best and drowns herself. Hamlet comes upon the gravediggers; here, Shakespeare inserts a cruelly ironic moment of graveyard humor before he allows Hamlet to discover for whom the grave is intended. Ophelia will haunt you.

In 1994, Mary Pipher, PhD, published Reviving Ophelia: Saving The Selves of Adolescent Girls as a wakeup call to families, fingering modern media and culture for increases in the rate of depression, anorexia, and suicide attempts in teen girls.  The book made its title a household phrase and Mary Pipher was deluged with speaking requests. I recommended the book to dozens of families who were trying to save their girls from illnesses exacerbated by America's sexualized marketing of teens. It pleases me to report that many families realized how wisely, carefully, and persistently they were going to have to fight in that cause; they were able to shut down the gushing well of exploitation that was drowning their daughters. 


Other families, sadly, felt helpless; their attitude was, "If she doesn't get it on MTV (or through magazines, books, ads in stores, etc.) at home, she'll just get it at her girlfriends' houses." They didn't realize that, if they could set and hold strong boundaries at home, they would be giving their daughter a critical safe port. The daughter could then internalize that concept of herself as precious. The sense of being worthy of careful nurturing, of possessing a selfhood worth fighting for, could operate to help a girl protect herself as she moved toward womanhood. 

I happened to see segments of Stefani Germanotta's (Lady Gaga) music video for "Alejandro" (a worthless waste of audio perception) on the screen of an adjoining exercise bike at the gym. The rider of that bike looked to be about 40 and perfectly normal, but she was glued to the video.  I have to admit, it was the proverbial train wreck; my neighbor's screen was so hard to ignore, I almost missed the news on my own screen that the BP oil well had just stopped gushing. Imagine what the Gaga video would be like for a thirteen year old girl! You can it see it on YouTube here, but approach with caution. It's not that the video is objectionable in a new way (it pretty much struck me as picking up where Madonna left off), but that it is objectionable in the same old way.

I often despair at how each generation has to relearn lessons that the previous generation sweated to master.  Not only did absolutely NOTHING change in the exploitation of teenage girls since Pipher's book was published, but the trend has accelerated. As age of menarche declines (as measured in decades) and secondary sexual characteristics (telarche) appear even earlier with the rise of obesity in children, America's media, driven by the unchecked profit motive, reaches further back into childhood to sexualize and exploit our daughters.

In Bristol Palin's passive aggressive decision to alert Us magazine, instead of her parents, about her decision to marry the father of her son, I see the fear and anger of a daughter whose family failed to protect her adequately. Bristol learned from her mother to live an overexposed life, and she applied that lesson to her television debut on the reality show "The Secret Life of The American Teenager."  Specialness that special can only be learned.  To me, it all further demonstrates the Palin family's willingness to exploit its most vulnerable members relentlessly.  They seek celebrity rather than substance.

There is a segment of the country's middle and lower class women who slavishly worship Bristol's mother; in their idolization of her, in their--typically inaccurate--identification with her, I see a feminine cohort that Feminism has failed.  Perhaps especially when they try to wrap the cloak of Feminism around themselves.


In the huge popularity amongst teens of Stephani Germanotta's pornographic music video, I see another failed crop of adolescents, both male and female. The lyrics of "Alejandro" are explicitly aimed at a young audience: "She's not broken, She's just a baby. But her boyfriend's like a dad, just like a dad/ and all those flames that burned before him. Now he's gonna fight your fight, gonna cool the bad."


Now, listen to Mary Pipher, PhD.  The video will sound and look a little dated, but its message is more applicable now than when it was filmed.




Who do you know that needs to hear it?

Why Neanderthals Are Extinct

Sure That's Not BATGIRL???

So you’ve watched the TV news this week and found it all “phews,” so batshit-crazy that you sent your television to Bristol and Levi as an engagement present…?

And your ears are starting to bleed because you’ve heard more of Mel Gibson’s foul rants than the Ex- has…?

Is that why you’re moaning, Mona?

And you’re thanking Mother Nature because Bristol and Levi’s outdoor wedding in Alaska must at least be over quickly? And the sure-to-be-shown photos of Daddy Levi and Baby Tripp in their matching camo wedding duds will replace the Blurry -Naked -Levi Playgirl one that hurts your eyes… is that your hankering, Hannah?

And you’ve seen Lindsay Lohan’s painted-for-da-judge middle F*ck you fingernail so often you’ve built that bird a nest? And hope her new attorney, Robert Shapiro, will say she should shove it… in a glove? Is that what you’re going for, Gladys?

Will anyone watch Aaron Sorkin’s movie based on Andrew Young’s book about Rielle, Johnny, the sex tapes, and the lawsuit unless assured that doing so could somehow halt Global Warming? Is that what you’re wondering, Wanda?

It’s been quite a week with the nuts and the creeps, so if those nitbrains have gotten you down, Dawn…

Here, thanks to my dear husband who found this, is some news* worth watching.

*(see comments)

To Prevent A Stink, We May Have to Raise One

I'm not an expert, I don't play one on TV (add 15 extra pounds? ha!) or the internet, and I haven't stayed at a Holiday Inn Express, but I think we need to re-learn how to walk and chew gum at the same time, and elect politicians who can do the same.

We have a right to expect members of Congress to do their homework before deciding on issues, but when they don't--and we know they don't--what then? Replacing a rotten tomato with a rotten potato doesn't do much to help the stink.

Although I'm loathe to even say his name, DICK CHENEY and his oil/energy friends-- Ken Lay of Enron, for one-- had free reign in setting our nation's energy policy during a series of meetings so secret that we weren't even told who attended. With the oil man President greasing the way to Congressional approval, they managed to leave us a looming legacy of potential disasters that don't end with capping the BP well in the Gulf.

Regulations? Nah. These boys know what they're doing. They'll police themselves just fine, thank you.

Wrong. We have some serious energy decisions ahead. Clear heads need to be studying this, for they require careful consideration. The stakes are very high and the choices very difficult.

Take, for instance, clean coal. Is it real or an oxymoron? The term refers to technology in using it, not how it's mined. Traditional mining or mountaintop removal seem to be our choices. The traditional way? We've seen its cost--the mining disasters and the grieving families of the victims.

Mountaintop removal is said to be cheaper for energy companies, but the environmental price? Go here to see photographs of what is involved. What are the ripple effects of those gaping holes to the folks in the valley, to their drinking water, to area tourism, business and industry?

Here in NC, our legislature passed a renewable energy law several years ago, giving energy companies the right to burn wood scraps along with the coal. Currently, our local power company is attempting to convince the Utilities Commission that a whole tree, once it's been chipped, is "wood waste." Wood is considered green energy in theory, since trees can be replanted. The power company doesn't replant them, however, and is asking that they not be made to do so.

Natural gas? Do some research before you hop aboard the natural gas train with T. Boone Pickens. Those same secret energy meetings convinced Congress to ease restrictions on the way natural gas is collected. Millions of gallons of water, sand, and chemicals are hydrofractured (high pressure about 300 times that of a garden hose) into rock to make fissures to get to the gas in the shale.

The procedure was developed by none other than Halliburton decades ago, but was not used until restrictions were lifted. Once Cheney was able to prop open the henhouse door, it didn't take long for fracting or fracking, as they call it, to become the method of choice. Does the fact that he got Congress to exempt this method of drilling from the Safe Drinking Water Act offer a clue as to what's at stake here?

There is an excellent documentary on HBO called GASLAND. The guy who made it--Josh Fox-- did so after becoming curious as to why a company was offering him $100,000 and royalties for natural gas drilling rights on his family's land. He decided to learn more about it instead of taking the money and running. He thinks we need to learn, too, so he made a movie about it.

Watch it. Invite your senators and representatives to watch with you. (Better not offer gum; we want their full attention.) If you can't see the movie, here's a link to an NPR interview with Josh, telling about what he found. There's information out there; look for it.

Not in your backyard? Guess again. Natural gas is already being mined in the majority of our states on some level. The Delaware River watershed is currently the subject of hearings and NY legislators are trying to intervene on a state level as it involves the NYC water supply. The situation puts people worrying about the quality of their drinking water against gas companies and property owners who believe they have a right to sell the mineral rights to their land.

I don't know the answers-- or even the questions-- but wouldn't it be prudent to be learning about this stuff now? All of the choices carry serious consequences. Progress requires energy, so we have to decide. If we don't, those with conflicts of interest decide for us. The only ones who seem to be paying attention right now are the ones who sniff money.

If we don't wise up, we're going to get fracked. Or worse.