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Tuesday, May 8, 2001
Tough girls are popular
Even some adults think it's time girls weren't seen as wilting flowers
Associated Press
Move over Wonder Woman. There's a new generation of tough girl in town - and she's not taking any guff.
From Japan's Powerpuff Girls cartoon to the new movie "Tomb Raider," tough-talking, take-charge female characters are tossing bad guys all over movie and TV screens.
Some wonder if they might be taking it a little far by emulating aggressive behavior traditionally associated with men.
But young, female fans - the same ones who are excelling more than ever in the classroom and on the athletic field - seem to like their rough-and-tumble heroines just fine.
Laura Fong, a 14-year-old from Hazlet, N.J., thinks the characters are "clever" and "take action" when they need to. Paula Garcia, a freshman at the University of California-Riverside, says they show that women can do pretty much anything, "even if it means saving the world."
And teens aren't the only ones who think so. "It's a wholly positive change in my eyes," says Emily Donahue, a 26-year-old Boston resident who believes her generation, too, has been hungering for a new kind of role model.
"The Barbie doll or Cinderella image is no longer the goal, because girls are no longer concerned solely with 'looking pretty' or waiting for their prince to come."
The "tough girl" phenomenon isn't altogether new.
Hard-nosed, women protagonists began emerging years ago in the "Alien" and "Terminator" films, and on comedian Roseanne Barr's self-titled TV show.
Today, strong female characters are even more popular, from TV's "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer" to the Powerpuff Girls, a trio of cartoon characters who giggle after walloping villains.
"Tomb Raider," set for release in June and starring Angelina Jolie, promises to bring yet another to the screen: Lara Croft, a British archaeologist, photojournalist and adventure-seeking globe-trotter.
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© 2001,
a Scripps Howard newspaper. All rights reserved.
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