October 29, 2010 12:37 PM
Glee photo spread in GQ
I really wanted to make Glee a regular family show. I don't watch any TV other than Project Runway when the season is over. Maddy watches the Turner Classic Movie Network.Maddy and I used to watch American Idol religiously, but this year for the first time lost interest as the show became increasingly less family-friendly (Luther, Lady Gaga) and the contestants (whom we had met) seemed to get more and more lost under the stylists heavy-handed branding.
Simon - our favorite judge - seemed clearly less interested and Ellen added nothing.
But with a family full of kids who sing and dance and act, I thought Glee would be so much fun. Maddy and I snuggled up together for the firt three episodes, but already it was getting too edgy for us. I hear it's really funny, but I'd rather not compromise week after week - like the proverbial frog in the boiling water. I was pretty shocked when I heard the Obamas' daughters' favorite TV show was Glee - even though Michelle is on record as not allowing the girls to watch TV on school nights - which prompted your tax dollars being used to fly the cast of Glee for a visit to the White House.
For families whose kids watch Glee, this should be on your radar:
Standing in line at the drugstore, I overheard a mother and her preteen daughter talking about the now-infamous racy GQ photos of the Glee stars. "Where did you see those?" asked the mom, her voice straining to stay calm. "Jamie showed me them. They're online, Mom." Her daughter responded with that note of irritation reserved especially for mothers. "They were kind of gross."From Common Sense Media, a nonpartisan, nonreligious watchdog group whose purpose is to keep parents informed. Worth bookmarking.
The mother looked a bit stumped about what to say next, and then they moved forward to the cash register to pay for the Halloween costumes she had in hand: some sort of superhero costume for her son and what looked like -- wait, it was! -- a Snooki costume for her daughter.
It took everything I had not to butt in. I wanted to ask the girl whether she'd noticed that the boy from Glee was photographed fully clothed, playing the drums, while the girls looked like Playboy bunny wannabes. I wanted to ask the mom whether there just might be some message her kids were getting about boys having super powers and girls getting power from being sexy super stars. But I stayed quiet and paid for my toothpaste and bags of candy for the impending trick-or-treaters -- all the while dreading that other ghosts and goblins from Jersey Shore will be knocking on my door this year.
The research around the way that highly sexualized images affect girls is alarming -- including lower grades and greater levels of depression. The negative impact on self-esteem has also been directly linked to girls who measure themselves against the sexy stars in their lives. And is this really the way we want our boys to think about girls? The challenge of counteracting these messages necessarily falls to parents. And there are as many different ways of discussing this as there are kids.
In today's world, kids are saturated in sexy images and messages thanks to everything from the TV to their cell phone. Get ideas on how to talk to your kids about what they're seeing in the media.
Posted in Entertainment, Feminism, Girls | Permalink
Comments
Barbara, I'm sure you know that from my previous comments and my own blog that I'm pretty conservative. I did want to point out one thing about your post that stuck out in my mind as I read it (although I agree with the gist and am equally disappointed in the sexualization in the media):
"I was pretty shocked when I heard the Obamas' daughters' favorite TV show was Glee - even though Michelle is on record as not allowing the girls to watch TV on school nights"
I don't know if they actually watch it when it airs, but my own family records tv shows on DVR and watch it days later, skipping commercials and watching it when WE want to, not when the network wants us to. Just wanted to point that out as a possibility, that one can watch weeknight shows without watching them on a school night.
Anyway, keep up the good work, and I look forward to more of your great posts! And as an aside, I almost always agree with your posts concerning the Campaigner-in-Chief. I find it a bit sad that Glee is the favorite show of such young children.
Posted by: Courageous Grace | October 29, 2010 5:28 PM
I do enjoy Top Chef. And we like to watch Iron Chef.
And we watch Project Runway. I liked this season but wish Mondo had won
Posted by: Jane | October 31, 2010 12:47 PM
