Leave the Little Girls Alone

Dear Friend and Reader,

IВ WANT TOВ start this with a little cartoon from Scott Bateman at Salon.com. The audio was taken from the actual commentary at CBS’ Early Show.В SinceВ 1998 it seems serious TV journalism left the building and was replaced with the obsessionВ forВ gossip as news. Now most folks are addicted to news as junk.В  As you can see in the cartoon above, even morning news talk shows are no exception.

In the days passing the election, we find no let up withВ the latest media obsession: the Obama daughters Sasha and Malia. To be honest, asВ compelling as it is because those kids are cute, the media thrall withВ the two little girlsВ soon to occupy the White House creeps me out.

Hoping to cash in the national focus on this historic election and candidate, Disney Channel’s “Hannah Montana Show” — a favorite show of the Obama girls, offered them a cameo spot in a new “Hannah” episode. In turning downВ Disney’sВ offer, President-elect Obama said, “Generally, what makes them so charming is the fact that they’re not spending a lot of time worrying about TV cameras or politics, and we want to keep it that way.”

NowВ for those who believe that theВ media focus on the Obama childrenВ is the price for the Senator’sВ choice to run, I have this to say:В Amy Carter did not have as relentless a mediaВ lens on her as Chelsea Clinton did (nor for that matter the rude and insulting remarks from the conservative right). Jenna andВ Barbara Bush were ushered out of the media spotlight whenever possible. The choice was and is their family’s, and it appears the Obama familyВ are having none of the silly parade. In keeping with the serious nature of the times, as Batemen says, mindless chattering about the Obama girls in the middle of an economic crisis is just not appropriate.

The life of a public figure is notВ theirВ own and in this age of You Tube, that aspect is amplified by millions of clicks per day, particularly for America’s first African-American and web-savvy President. The Obama girls are perfect junk-newsВ fodder on a slow-news dayВ as witnessed in the Salon cartoon. Its going to take every hand on deck to provide these kids, as Barack and Michelle put it Sunday on 60 Minutes, a sense of “normalcy” in their soon to be fishbowl lives.

When President-Elect ObamaВ begins officeВ next yearВ Malia and SashaВ will be turning eleven and eight, respectively. At eleven, a young girl’s sense of self accelerates and transforms. As discussed about Mary Pipher’s bookВ “Reviving Ophelia”:

…(Think of) adolescent girls as fragile young trees swaying in the onslaught of an ominous storm or hurricane…The storm threatening the girls represents the weight of popular culture as it tries to force them to become less than their true selves. The girls’ families are the root systems that will either hold the girls steady or contribute to their decay. Parents represent the girls’ shelter from the storm.

In spite of what their parents will do and be, these girls will not only observe but also beВ part of popular culture, whether they choose to participate in one media aspect of it or another. Michelle Obama as First Lady and “Mom-in-Chief” is going to have her hands full. I have no doubt sheВ will be quite up to the task of protecting the personhoodВ of her two daughters, and hopefully model this not only for her family but for others.В В Her upbringing as a member of a struggling, close-knit black family in the south side of Chicago is a formidable grounding force. Michelle’s own mother Marion Robinson will be helping to share in the child-raising, more than likely living at the White House.В Given whatВ the President-elect willВ have to do and the immense pressure he’ll be under, they’re all going to need each other. Our Shanna Philipson puts it this way:

What makes Michelle perfect for this role (of First Lady)В is that Capricorns are typically measured about their actions and well aware of the public’s perception of them, so she’ll really grok the role of her girls as ambassadors of America’s youth. She will expect much from them, but I think there’s real warmth in there, too. Saturn suggests the primary lesson of a successful adulthood; it’s a threshold to the grand lessons of life. Saturn in her second house suggests she may have not had much growing up, materially, but she certainly knows the value of what’s enduring now…She may not give a lot emotionally, but what she gives ain’t junk.

Though intensified by the significance and demands of his new office,В the Obamas’ concernВ to retain the wholesomeness of theirВ daughters is theВ same for most parents everywhere: Popular culture, marketing and media all play a hand in how we regard women of all ages.В Little girls are barraged on a daily basisВ with messages to grow up fast,В act spoiled, silly and unreal like the Disney character Miley Cyrus portrays, areВ weighted down by the overemphasis on the physical ideal,В and often sexualized in appearanceВ before their time.В What is taught to our little girls about beingВ their own person?В How are we encouragingВ our young girlsВ to explore and revel in their own personhood without some need to please someone, act inauthentically or feel shame?

I askВ those of us hereВ who are parents about the difficulties faced inВ keeping the souls and selves of our daughters intact.В What are/were your pressures as parents; what hurt your efforts; what helps; what needs to change? In these thoughts, we capture not only the dilemma that the Obamas, another American family, faces with their children. We’reВ facing howВ to unravel ourselvesВ from concepts and influencesВ that trivialize and subjugate our young girls and boysВ before their minds and spiritsВ have a chance to even discern what’s happening to them. Maybe when Pluto enters Capricorn, some sobriety can re-enter the national dialogue and we won’t be assaulted, at leastВ on that frontВ by the media parade of mindlessness that passes for news, informationВ or entertainment.В 

We have a lot to do.

Yours and truly,

Fe Bongolan from San Francisco