ALTERNATIVE ROLE MODELS FOR IMPRESSIONABLE YOUNG GIRLS (ARMFIYG), Installment 1

I have a friend who has a sister. She's going into seventh grade and seems amazingly nice and levelheaded for going into seventh grade (I hated seventh grade - social awkwardness and trying to fit in among the prostitots was not one of my strong suits). I was over his house the other day when I heard her pick up the phone with a cry of exasperation- Not again! It turned out that Hannah Montana had been calling the house incessantly all day, promoting a line of back-to-school supplies that featured (guess who? you're right!) emblazoned on the covers. This, to the bitchy femminist in me, raised two important questions: A) How low can advertising stoop? To pester defenseless individuals in the throes of puberty and attempt to brainwash them into buying unnecessary and hideous goods made in China OVER THE PHONE? and B) Hannah Montana? Srsly? Do tween girls not deserve a better role model than a plasticky blonde faux-teenager?

In a vehement and far-reaching (read: limited to the very limited audience of this blog) contra-Hannah Montana campaign, I present to you:

ALTERNATIVE ROLE MODELS FOR IMPRESSIONABLE YOUNG GIRLS
Installment 1: Patti Smith

I never was too much of a hero-worshipper in junior high (I am not exactly bragging here, I was simply too clueless to know what was "in" and never really figured it out), but I figure that if you want to worship and revere someone, they had better be bleeding awesome. An excellent role model would be Marie Curie, Jane Goodall, or the female president of Liberia, but I figure it's hard to explain the obvious glamorous mystique of nuclear scientists and primatologists. Patti Smith has mystique to spare. She's a singer, like Hannah Montana, but that's where the similarity ends.

You see, unlike Hannah Montana, Patti Smith invented punk.
Unlike Hannah Montana, Patti Smith came from a poor family, couldn't afford college, started working in a factory assembly line before getting fed up and running away to Paris where she made her living as a street performer.
Unlike Hannah Montana, Patti Smith has been performing since the 60's, writes her own music (obviously) and has become much more famous than most of the rock and punk guys of her day despite existing in an era where women in rock were unusual if not downright rare.

Patti Smith is a legend, and rightfully so - she's talented, she isn't afraid to find the limits of modern music and push them, and she can be very successful in a male-dominated genre of music while remaining feminine and sexy.

You see, Patti Smith is also beautiful.
Don't believe me?
Witness:




versus:



Srsly? Is there even a contest?