kin as possible. The type of imagery depicted by MTV-- as well as people like Howard Stern, the famous Girls Gone Wild videos, and various Hip Hop songsglorifies sex and the provocative woman. Being completely surrounded by the media, I am surprised that I ever realized that this kind of behavior is demeaning and immoral. As well as once looking to the media for an idea of who I am, I found myself looking to my boyfriend for the answers. Who does he want me to be? He too is influenced by the media and wants me to be thin, sexy, and beautiful. But he also takes a traditional approach. He is looking for someone who will be a good mother to his children and take care of all the cooking and cleaning, the idea of male domination. According to him, that is the womans job. This way of looking at a womans role has been embraced for centuries, and, even though women have come a long way, is still accepted and expected. If this way has worked for so long then maybe it is the right choice for women. Or is the traditional approach as demeaning as the midriff? Since the traditional role and the medias midriff are not satisfying models, I find myself, as all young women do, looking to my mother as an example of how and what I should be. My mother is a high school math teacher and a loving wife. She has a career of her own in which she helps others and the community. At the same time, she does the cooking and the cleaning for my father while carpooling my sister around town. She tells me to be myself and to follow my dreams. Did she follow her dreams? She seems to be happy with her life. Is a woman today supposed to do it all? Her example seems to be the best one so far. She incorporates the traditional role of the housewife with the modern role of career woman, but how does she have time for it all. This happy medium seems incredibly overwhelming to me. I am still left with doubts about who I am and who I am supposed to be. I ...
