By Kasey Brooks, '08 |Staff Reporter

Women in our ever-changing society face many challenges and obstacles mostly unknown to the women who came before them. Technology, communications, and the women’s rights movement have all had a hefty impact. However, one issue stands out to me above the rest: the issue of voluntary ignorance. Intelligent women, once valued members of society, have been replaced by negative female role models, who stand for nothing and strive to seem more naïve than they really are.

Of the many problems young women face, it is almost comical to think that seeming ignorant or less intelligent is one of them. However, if one looks carefully, one can see it all around. Even in conversation, women are forced to “dumb down” their vocabulary. For whatever reason, a smart, well-read female comes across as a threat to others.

Growing up, my mother told me that I could be anything on this green earth that I could possibly think of that I wanted to be. I could find a cure for cancer. I could write a compelling article in a literary journal. I could do anything, as long as I didn’t limit myself. Unfortunately, that is exactly what women of today are doing.

Instead of striving for that cure for cancer or that article, women are competing to become the “it” party girl, who attracts all the males only with her appearance. Reading and writing, once valid pastimes, are almost looked down upon now as outdated.

Certain negative female role models in society foster the idea of intelligence lacking importance. People like Britney Spears and Paris Hilton glamorize the idea of riding by on looks alone as well as the “importance” of getting into the good parties and knowing the right people.

Is this really all a woman’s life should be? Has women’s liberation brought us nothing? The only power a woman like Paris Hilton or Britney Spears wields, other than her wallet, is sex. A woman like this is turned from a thoughtful human being into a sexual object or trophy, just there for the highest bidder. Nobody is taught anymore that male attention is not the most important thing in life, nor even that necessary.

Young girls learn from these negative role models and will behave accordingly, if not steered in a better direction. In high school, reading, writing and math are all seen as necessary evils, not possible fields of interest. Young women read because they are assigned books for a course, not usually because they like reading for reading’s sake.

Sometimes teachers and professors reinforce this, treating all assignments as necessary evils, and perpetuating a young girl’s thinking patterns in this area. Let us not forget that social acceptance from peers gains an all-time high importance at this stage. Anyone seen as “different” becomes cast out, including many misunderstood and intelligent young women. This does nothing but to foster the idea that society is a place run by the beautiful, not by the talented or gifted.

Changes must be made to the country’s values before the trend can be reversed. A possible suggestion would be the promotion of more positive female role models, such as Oprah Winfrey, who represent positively the image of an intelligent female.

Another suggestion would be discussing more freely the diversities we all have, and accepting women who enjoy reading as much as women who enjoy math. This will foster more open attitudes towards these pursuits. Women should be able to encourage other women to pursue enriching and satisfying goals or hobbies. The trend that comes with this “party girl” image is to backstab, but all this will do is perpetuate the miserable cycle of fighting over ridiculous things instead of supporting each other.

It can be difficult, to find one’s own way in life, whether man or woman. Unfortunately, many intelligent women have tried to hide their intelligence rather than embracing it, and have done so in pursuit of an image like that of Paris Hilton or Britney Spears.

However, I have hope that if more women are able to turn around their way of thinking, a much more healthy and well-rounded culture will take hold, one that we can all be proud of.