Roxy Hammond

Sophistication. Freedom. Independence. Power. Me?

I was just trying to buy another stick of deodorant when I came face-to-face with the epitome of pathetic. My brand, Secret, decided it was going to pay a tribute to the last 50 years of women, by designing ‘special edition’ deodorant tubes with a woman from each era, and a word supposedly summing up what the women of that era stood for.

Sadly enough, I was ashamed to be summed up by this deodorant. I wasn’t any of the strong, meaningful words used to described the 50s, 60s, 70s or 80s … oh no, I was a member of Generation Me.

Me. Not like Generation Empowered, or Generation Take Charge or Generation Achievement … but just plain old Me.

Now I’m sure that the Secret manufacturers were just attempting to find some strange power in just being you, but I was a little bit uneasy about this reflecting how selfish we’ve become.

It was as if the deodorant was making it totally OK to make everything about you. The women of the past, they had their own achievements … but now everything can just revolve around … well, you.

I mean, God forbid we achieve something worth representing. We were never flower children, we didn’t have to fight to vote or use birth control; nor do we deal with the everyday stigma of belonging in a kitchen. (By the way, anyone that thinks that should probably see me cook. You would ban all women from the kitchen.)

Not my generation. Evidently we can be characterized for hitting the mall, getting our nails done and chit-chatting about the latest drama of our lives.

Am I overreacting? Sure, I suppose you could think so. But I’m not sure whether to be more alarmed by the fact that you’re not concerned about this, or the fact that the Secret manufacturers couldn’t find a better word to sum us up than “Me.”

Is that really all we are? Does everyone older than me believe that I only care about myself?

It doesn’t really surprise me. Let’s look at who’s at the forefront of the media representing our generation. Paris ‘That’s hot’ Hilton. Lindsay ‘Tan in a Can’ Lohan. Nicole ‘Food is the Enemy’ Ritchie. Britney ‘Trailer Park’ Spears.

Boy, that’s one admirable list. We have all the rich bitches coining brilliant phrases and taking turns having eating disorders. What do they do all day? They talk on their cell phones and party. Nothing actually constructive for the world. Awesome.

This just furthers my hatred of the celebrity culture today … knowing that our idols, our icons are making past generations think that I, too, enjoy clubbing until dawn and talking about myself to anyone who will listen.

I want to look back on my time as a young woman and admire it, not despise it. I want to know that I can stick a word to it that is highly regarded to future generations and not a joke in the evolution of the female gender.

I want to be sophisticated, free, independent, powerful and, most importantly, I want to be something that furthers all the work the generations before me have done, not erases it.

Funny, all I wanted was to not smell like BO.

#1.884256:303082223.jpg:roxyhammond_cj.jpg:Roxy Hammond, Sarcastic Cynicisms:Charlie Johnson