[net.women] Madonna and Other Female Role Models

chris@pyuxc.UUCP (R. Hollenbeck) (06/05/85)

I don't think there's any real danger of Madonna becoming a role model
for young girls; the record business, and show business/publishing
in general, have become too skillful at co-optation for anyone like
Madonna to be taken as anything more than a cute toy, like a Kewpiee
doll (not even as the Boy Toy she jokingly advertises herself
to be on her belt buckle).
Witness the transformation of Prince, Michael Jackson, and even
Boy George into cartoons.  Prince and Boy George, especially, had
the potential to be threatening to established roles/attitudes,
but don't worry, People Magazine and Joan Rivers are on the job,
homogenizing these people into images that at best give young
(and older) people a few fashion ideas.

In short, the days when the Rolling Stones could be considered
a menace to society are long gone.