Little Women

After reading "Little Women: How consumer culture is forcing girls to grow up too fast" I see some things, as a kid, I was exposed to but then again a lot of things I wasn't shown. As a kid I played with the Bratz dolls and Barbie but I never thought of what they were wearing would be something I would ever wear. I just saw them as something to play with. Also with the Disney movies I just enjoyed the songs and the characters in the movies. I wasn't paying so much attention to what the girls were wearing. I think my mindset of not inspiring to wear the outfits they did has kept me level headed. As the article had said many young girls see what the princess and dolls are wearing and they want to wear it to. As a kid I wasn't exposed to the media very much because we did not have cable. My parents didn't like the shows that were on TV and only allowed my sister and I to watch shows they approved of, like Arthur. Today, every one of all ages is more exposed to suggestive images because of the media. Through commercials of Victoria Secret or ads in magazines that you can't even tell what the product is. I think that this has affected many girls self esteem issues including myself. We constantly see how a woman should look in our society but we know that it is not possible to look that way no matter how hard we try. Some girls try so hard to look a certain way but are then just judged and criticized because they dress provocatively and inappropriately for their age. In the article when they said stores are now making thongs for girls 7 to 10 years old I was shocked. That is too young of an age for a girl to be wearing a thong, I don't even think at that age I knew what a thong was. Lastly, being in an all girl catholic school I have been taught a lot on this topic. We learn in class how the media just photo shops every photo so the woman in the picture can look there best and most appealing to the viewers. We learn to be confident women just the way we are and not to change ourselves because that is the way media or boys want us to look.

Sources of my identity

In second grade my mom transferred me out of public school and into a catholic grade school. Here is where I met two of my closest friends today. Ever since my first day at Saint Albert the Great we have been friends. This was due to my second grade teacher forcing the girls to watch over me at a new school. Little did we know that it was the best thing that would ever happen to us. All throughout grade school we were close and even though we are now at different high schools nothing has changed. We still talk all the time and always have such a fun time when we hang out. We have such great memories together and I wouldn't change that for anything.

Also in second grade my mom wanted me to learn how to swim so I wouldn't drown. At first I didn't take very well to the sport I just sat on the pool deck and cried. But I soon after got over it very fast and have loved it ever since then. I have met some of the most amazing people while swimming there and I will always remember every meet and every team member. While swimming I am able to just forget everything and just focus on myself. It has gotten me through so much going to the pool ever

y day and clearing my head. I love it so much and I don't know what I would do without it in my life.

I also love to travel. I have been so blessed that I have been able to go to so many different places recently. When I was younger my family and I would always go on family vacations. I loved looking at the new and more interesting places than just my home. Each summer my family would go down the shore, go camping, or go somewhere new like Niagara Falls. My favorite trips would have to be, even to

this day, when we went down to Disney. I can never get tired of going down there and I am excited to be going down there again this summer. More recently I went to Costa Rica, which will be a trip that I will never forget. It was such a new and exotic place and I love traveling all throughout the country enjoying every second of it. But probably my most favorite place to travel would be England. I had gone there two summers ago and I loved every second of it. I was able to meet family I have never met before, see amazing scenery you don't see in America, and huge castles. I am so excited to be going back there this summer. It shall be an amazing time.