I saw something really mean this morning on the news about Christina Aguilera- poor girl can't stay out of the news lately! Apparently, she is being criticized all over the blogosphere and elsewhere for the outfit that she wore while performing at the American Music Awards on Sunday. People have been commenting on her weight, and suggesting that she might be pregnant. First of all, how is this news?? It's too bad that as a woman, she can't just do what she was born to do- perform- and not get flack about what she chooses to wear, her heels, dress, body etc. I'll be the first to say that as a female, I have fun picking out my clothes and think it's important to be professional, however- it would be nice if appearance didn't have the power to eclipse one's talent or job in our society.


The other thought I had about this story is related to bullying. One of the lessons we did this season in Girls on the Run was about bullying. This is a major problem amongst children and teens-- the accessibility of technology and the internet has really increased the span of this issue. It seems that we bully people publicly in the media- and it is pretty widely acceptable, so much so that we barely bat an eye. And then we tell our children that it's not nice to call other people names, or to make fun of what they wear, etc. It seems a little inconsistent. In no way do I want to minimize the severity of bullying- we have all heard some awful stories I'm sure (here, here, here). But we can only expect children to follow our example, so maybe we need to re-evaluate the example that we are setting. Maybe when we stop calling people 'fat' and 'ugly,' our children and teens will stop as well.