Got Role Models?

Kristin Cavallari and Snooki aren't cutting it for me.

As young women in college, it’s easy to take a quick look at the most popular women in the media and feel a sense of disappointment—Cavallari and Snooki, and women such as Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears, aren’t exactly ideal role models to emulate. While music, television, and the big screen are inundated with characters and individuals hardly worthy of our attention, there are plenty of awesome females that we can look up to. They’re easy to find - just go to your nearest book store.

Courtney E. Martin, author of the new book Do It Anyway: The New Generation of Activists (Beacon Press, September 2010), gives young women a lot to look up to. Do It Anyway profiles eight champions for social change in the United States under the age of 35, six of them being females.

While this amazing new book is written for men and women alike, it inherently empowers young women who are in desperate need of strong, female figures in the public eye; inspiration and motivation jumps off each and every page. It’s refreshing to finally see a group of women featured in the public eye who aren’t poor role models to young women.

The greatest role model in all of Do It Anyway is the author herself. While Martin is busy writing about the effective work of other women, she is subtly proving to readers that her dreams, visions, and accomplishments put her in the same admirable category as her subjects.

Martin’s intention was to profile a series of young activists who are doing good work in the world and praise them for making a difference in their own ways. What Martin may not have realized, however, is that she also is making a huge difference by writing this book in the first place. Being a storyteller of such important narratives helps to change the lives of every single reader.

While the content of the book is critical, the surrounding themes and written approach are equally significant. Martin’s honesty about her own personal experiences takes a certain kind of courage that is a rarity in our modern society. It always seems as if people are trying to cover their own backs in order to make themselves appear flawless, but the most amazing component of Martin’s writing is her ability to acknowledge her own flaws.

There is an important section within Do It Anyway’s conclusion about good failures. “We must be fearless in both our analysis and our action. We must accept that we will fail and try anyway, try to fail always more exquisitely, more honestly, more effectively.” This shows that Martin doesn’t try avoid her real experiences, rather she discusses them outright for all to see.

It might involve less effort to scroll through Perez Hilton’s blog or browse through channels provided by cable television, but it is definitely more worthwhile to check out this latest piece of literature for real and authentic female role models. Literature has a history of giving young women admirable characters, Little Women, Herland, and JaneEyre for example. Do It Anyway follows in this tradition, except even better. Young women now have real women to look up to instead of fictional characters, Courtney Martin being the best one of all.