I grew up in an era where crass bolded headlines plastered celebrities' downfalls and the criticism of women generally took up the front page.
As a child, I watched my mom flip through “People” magazine as she browsed the latest celebrity drama.
“Did you hear about the latest drama with Paris Hilton?” she overstated.
For hours we’d talk about the latest plastic surgery, fashion mishap, or relationship blunder happening in these women’s lives.
As if we had any authority to judge or critique these women.
It wasn’t until I was in my teen years that I realized I fed into the patriarchal monster and these harsh words affected how I viewed myself and the women around me.
Don’t get me wrong — shows like “The Girls Next Door,” “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” and “The Simple Life” took up most of my brain power as a young girl.
However, the venomous words that headlined the tabloids against these women truly affected a generation of young girls.
I remember walking through the run-down Rite Aid weaving through the different aisles and seeing the cruelest of titles in bright pink font.
Teeny-bopper Magazines pinned young girls against each other, ranking one higher in quality than the other.
“Oh, he deserves so much better than her,” I would scoff.
It was never the other way around.
Funny how I’d cry, “Oh he deserves so much better than me” in my later years.
I’d gush over the latest fashion trends — noting how even the skinniest women were somehow not thin enough.
Patched together on the J-14 or Bop magazines were artificially proclaimed competitions: “Jessica Simpson said WHAT about Britney” or something of the sort.
I would see “Lindsay Lohan beats out Christina at the award show” all in color-saturated, glittery bubble letters.
Stained in my memory was Joan Rivers’ “Fashion Police” and the comparisons of different celebrity women.
The consumption of this media always left me questioning, “If these women aren’t good enough, what does that mean about me?”
I wish I could say that the media’s undermining of women was a thing of the past, but it’s all too current.
The media blames women for the actions of men and undermines the successes of women all for a cheap headline to create drama.
A 2019 People magazine headline reads “Chrissy Metz Appears to Call Alison Brie ‘Such a Bitch’ on Live Golden Globes Pre-Show.”
Where is the news? What was the article supposed to bring to the table?
Similarly, women are still pitted against one another as if an award podium for the best woman exists.
The infamous Beyoncé and Taylor Swift manufactured feud rings in my head.
Despite the opinions of Kanye West about how Beyoncé deserved the award over Swift.
Somehow this was taken as fact and led into a media-driven “beef” of two women who hadn’t echoed similar sentiments.
Women in music somehow have had their talents overshadowed by whatever drama the media wants to focus on that week.
I think it’s one thing to hold women accountable — cough cough — Taylor Swift's carbon footprint or the Kardashians' cultural appropriation.
It’s another thing to intentionally make someone the butt of a headline.
The media has preyed on young girls from the beginning of time, bringing to light insecurities that many didn’t know existed.
I remember looking at the low-rise jean epidemic and was made aware of my stomach.
The language used against cellulite made me look at my legs with disgust and still to this day leads me to value oversized clothes more than form-fitting apparel.
It seems like new studies come out daily that bring up new statistics about the detriment that media has on young girls.
Nearly 3 in 5 U.S. teen girls consistently felt sad or hopeless largely due to the internet, according to a study found by Psychology Today.
The impact of social media I feel has only gotten worse with the invention of FaceTune and it’s important to hold those celebrities to the same standards as we do with media.
I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that the media has negatively impacted not only how women see themselves but how women see one another.
As an aspiring journalist, all I can say is that I refuse to be a pawn in the media's game against women.
