Little Women

Describe your experience growing up... what toys did you play with? 

Growing up, I was a huge fan of Barbie dolls. I received at least one on every holiday, with clothes and accessories to match. This greatly upset some members of my family, such as my aunt, who never allowed her own daughter to have a Barbie doll. At the time, I did not understand why my Aunt Mary would never buy me the Barbie doll I asked for, although now I appreciate that she stood her ground on the subject.

Were limitations set by your family on what toys or shows you could watch? 

Though my parents allowed me to play with Barbies, they did not allow me to watch shows they felt were too inappropriate for my age. While many of my friends were chatting about Gossip Girl in seventh grade, I was not allowed to watch the show. I remember sitting with my friends at recess one day and being shocked at the things in the show that they were describing and embarrassed that I couldn’t watch the show (based on their descriptions of the plot, I didn’t really want to, it just seemed like the “normal/cool” thing to do).

How do you think your exposure to suggestive images or shows has affected your self-understanding and self esteem? 

I think that the suggestive images and/or shows that I have seen have negatively affected in my self-esteem. Although I try to portray myself as independent and secure, I have always had really low self-esteem. I easily compare myself to others, especially in regards to things that do not really matter, such as physical appearance. I think part of this comes from the media; I noticed at a young age that all of the girls on TV with seemingly great lives full of friends, cute crushes, and parties, were a lot skinnier and physically prettier than I was, and it was hard on my self-esteem when I compared myself to them.

Finally, how has your experience at an all-girls Catholic school affected/counteracted the messages you receive from the media? 

I think that being at an all-girls Catholic school has somewhat balanced out the messages that I have received from the media in two ways. In the shows that I watched on TV growing up, everyone looked perfect and made up all the time. This was true to some extent in my co-ed grade school, where many of the girls tried to see how much makeup they could get away with before they were sent to the bathroom to wash their faces off. Mount has shown me that I do not need to look "perfect" because my personality and academic drive will be what the other students notice about me, rather than my hair or constant lack of makeup. I plan to take this with me to college, although I will probably start brushing my hair once I get there, just to look presentable in class.