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Sometimes I'm really glad I don't have any kids, because there are so many things I could not explain to them. The latest of these things is the new and "improved" Dora the Explorer, who has lost a few pounds, grown a few inches and accessorized!
Mattel and Nickelodeon have revealed the new and "improved" Dora and here she is and once again, corporate America has demonstrated to us (and little girls everywhere) that it doesn't matter how smart you are or if you're adventurous, because, as a female, you have to be nice to look at too. Not that the old Dora, who was shorter, chubbier and carried a backpack, wasn't cute. She was adorable. But I don't understand why she needed to change.
I thought the purpose of Dora was to encourage learning, not to look like she just stepped out of the Limited Too, after Daddy and Mommy took her on a shopping spree.
But I guess I was wrong.
I've written about the Rihanna-Chris Brown incident before. And I'm not trying to water-down its sigificance by calling it an incident. But I don't care for convicting people, even in the court of public opinion, until they've been proven guilty. Like many people I'll be watching to see what the end result of the proceedings about this event will be.
A friend of mine brought this informal survey of Boston teenagers to my attention. The results are nothing less than terribly disturbing. Nearly half of teens between the ages of 12 and 19 believed that Rihanna was to blame for being beaten by her boyfriend. Let's ponder that for a moment. Nearly half.
I would be lying if I said I'm surprised. I'm not. And perhaps that is cynical, but just the conversations I've had with my own friends, who are adults, have disturbed me. Many of us seem to be making excuses for why Chris Brown would do something like this. I've heard excuses ranging from: "he's young," to "we all make mistakes."
Enough has been said about what Rihanna can do to be a good role model to young girls. I'm less concerned about that at the moment. I'm most concerned with what we adults can do to ensure the teens and children in our lives don't hold the opinion that there is something a woman can do that would make her responsible for the violence of another person.
We all have a responsibility to explain to them violence is never acceptable. We also have a responsibility to remind them if Rihanna decides to forgive Chris Brown that is her decision and it doesn't make her pathetic or stupid. Yes, Rihanna is a singer and a byproduct of that has made her a role model. But she isn't an expert and she doesn't always make the right choices.
Violence is never acceptable and we should all acknowledge this. It doesn't matter if it exists between boyfriend and girlfriend, husband and wife, father/mother and child. It is always wrong.
If anything can come out of this terrible event, I hope the public can engage in a real conversation about domestic violence. It's a topic that's worth more than a few Lifetime movies and Law and Order episodes.
