  Wow,  blogger's changed stuff in the last 20 hours.  hmm,  anyway,  here's the media commentary that I submitted today.  Enjoy!
 & nbsp;  In examining the front page of a recent edition of a national daily newspaper,  I was interested to note that three of the five headlines were concerned with women or girls. nbsp;  The largest and boldest headline was regarding the search for a five-
year- old who has gone missing,  possibly abducted from her own bed. nbsp;  The next reported on the trial of a twenty- one-
year- old who stands accused of beating and killing a fourteen- year- old seven years ago. nbsp;  (
Incidentally,  the victim in the case was female too. nbsp;  The last headline,  printed in font not much bigger than the body text,  stated that a certain successful businesswoman feels “
lonely”  at the top. nbsp;  Are these the faces of & nbsp; girl power”
 I wondered. nbsp;  Victims,  violent offenders,  and,  for those of achievement,
 isolation? nbsp;  As a high- school teacher and as a woman,  this question was disturbing. nbsp;
 What sorts of role models are “ legitimate”  media like news agencies offering young women seeking independence and self- reliance? nbsp;  Do they equate female fame with infamy?
nbsp;  Are they perpetuating the unspoken message that,  to be successful in a career,  women should expect to go it alone? nbsp;  Exacerbating this troubling impression is the feeling among many researchers that what most girls,
 socialized to depend on relationships,  fear most is isolation and loneliness. nbsp;  How then can they be expected to make choices that would seemingly lead to a life of solitude and separation?  Turning to the popular media that permeates so much of teenage existence,  we are confronted with an incarnation of “
girl power”  that has been appropriated,  reshaped,  repackaged and then marketed back to the masses as a key ingredient in the Ultimate Female Formula. nbsp;  In the music world,
 from Spice to Spears,  “ girl power”  has become synonymous with a sexualized innocence,  manipulative intelligence,  and the “
right”  to be a bitch. nbsp;  In the typical blockbuster movies,  female leads serve to feed the male ego as romantic partners ( Meg Ryan in any of her romantic comedies)
 evil seductresses ( Kathryn in Cruel Intentions )  unfeminine ( and therefore undesirable)  adversaries ( Ursula in Disney’
s The Little Mermaid )  and butt- kicking sex icons ( Sigourney Weaver in the Alien movies) nbsp;  Teen magazines devote themselves to self-
improvement schemes –  exercise regimes,  diets,  makeovers,  fashion tricks –  always feeding that sense of never being thin /
 pretty /  popular /  fashionable enough. nbsp;  Ironically,  these publications are financed by ads that,
 if all their claims were true,  would put said magazines out of business. nbsp;  In the popular media,  true “ girl power”
 has become warped:  sexuality has become promiscuity;  ambition has become frigidity;  and self- empowerment has become a threat to society.  &
nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;
nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;  The concept of “
girl power”  had noble beginnings. nbsp;  The idea that everything that makes Woman different from Man –  biology,  psychology,
 neurology –  could also make her as strong,  if not stronger,  was an epiphany too long in coming. nbsp;  But,
 like the dream that loses its substance upon waking,  “ girl power”  somehow lost its meaning and became more concerned with men than women. nbsp;  In a society cored in patriarchy,
 it seems even female empowerment must be dictated in male terms.
