Women Role Models

Do you know that if you ask most men to name the people they admire and strive to emulate, they have clear and concise answers?

Now if you ask women the same question, they will often give a plethora of responses.  They want to be as beautiful as Jennifer Lopez, as thin as Heidi Klum as smart as Hillary Clinton, as supportive as Laura Bush, as talented as Meryl Steep, as sexy as Angelina Jolie, as witty as Ellen DeGeneres, and as giving as Mother Theresa.  Further, we believe that if we fall short in any of these categories, we must try harder!

Here’s my first little secret for you. 

Laura Bush is not as thin as Heidi. Ellen is not as beautiful as Jennifer.  And Hillary is certainly not as sexy as Angelina. 

It’s really not our fault that we are so screwed up.  Let’s face it.  When Gloria Steinem tried to convince us to “burn our bras” and be the same as men, many of us said, “no”.  During an interview, I said to her, “When men can have babies, they we will be “the same”.  I continued, I want to embrace my femininity and I certainly will “compete in the boardroom, but not in the bedroom.”

Okay then there was Marabelle Morgan who was antithesis to Gloria Steinem.  Marabelle wanted us to dedicate our entire lives to pleasing our man.   As he arrives after a long day’s work, (like we haven’t had one), dinner should be prepared and most importantly we should greet him with a smile and wrapped in Saran Wrap.

Now to be fair, I did do the Saran Wrap thing around my thighs, but only because I was told it reduces cellulite. 

But the best book of all times was Helen Gurley Browns, “The Total Woman”.  She had us getting up at dawn to fix breakfast, look gorgeous, get to the office early (so we could compete with our male counterparts), get home, prepare a gourmet dinner for “our man”, look gorgeous again, get sexy, make mad passionate love, while never ever denying his wants or needs and just before bed -- get pretty again. 

Frankly, I’m exhausted just writing this.

So whom should we blame?  Blame the media, blame your parents, blame your insecurities, blame all womankind.  Okay, maybe not all womankind.  But for a moment, let’s talk about the media. 

I subscribe to a magazine called “More” for women over 40.  Let me tell you, they normally feature sharp, beautiful, thin women!  And how about all the “quizzes” and “tests” we all take in these magazines.

Let’s see there’s everything from “How to Climb the Corporate Ladder while becoming a Gourmet Chef, to How to have thinner thighs in 30 days while becoming a Kama Sutra Sexpert.  (Actually having lots of sex would help those thighs) . Oh, and don’t forget the “How to become a female Buddhist Monk (actually called  Bhikhuni) while climbing Mount Everest.   Recently I took a magazines “Career Aptitude Test” to see if I could fit the corporate profile.  Midway through, I started laughing hysterically.  Here I am CEO of a multi-million dollar company and yet I’m taking a stupid dumb ass magazine quiz.  Stupid me.

You know, several years ago Sally Field won an Academy Award and was chastised for her “trite comments” during her acceptance speech. I, for one, understood exactly where she was coming from.   She said, “You like me--you really like me”.

But ladies let’s change that.  From now own, let’s have our mantra be, “I like me--I really like ME!