Virgin, Mother, Whore

Virgin, Mother or Whore: these titles represent the three corners of an impossible triangle faced by women today. Although no woman could ever be all three, society argues that a successful woman should be able to include herself into at least two out of the three categories.
Advertising, television and all media create a practically unattainable model for what women should look, act and dress like. On the one hand there is the never ending spew of images of scantily clad women whose perfect bodies have been morphed by Photoshop to create such beautiful aliens. These images show the women in compromising positions and call the younger minds of beautiful girls to act like tramps. These images also speak to men, telling them: “This is what women look like and this is what you should look for in a woman.” The stress for women to be sexual in the way they dress and act comes directly from ads and even from television shows such as 90210 and Gossip Girl. These shows are based around high school/ college age young adults. The girls on the show bounce from one guy to the next and almost every female character on both shows have been in sexual situations more than once. For the younger girls who watch these shows they are being fashioned to think that being “easy” is the norm and that is what they should aspire to act like.
Furthermore, shows such as 90210 and The Secret Life of the American Teenager portray young mothers on their shows as having normal lives and still being fabulous and sought after by many prospects. On the shows the female mothers are in high school and continue to live their drama filled lives with the child in tow. Although The Secret Life of the American Teenager takes a more realistic stance on the subject of teen pregnancy it still puts forth the idea to young girls that they should be mothers and still be either a whore like the character of Adrian or become chaste and give up their sexuality altogether following the actions of Amy. It stresses the paradox that women should fit themselves into a certain stereotype in order to please society.
Finally, until their teen years girls are hit over the head with purity propaganda. Church groups, schools and chastity programs telling young girls to be abstinent and not to show any sign of their sexuality. They are told to refuse the advances of guys and stay pure.
Somewhere in the middle of all three is the place where most girls should fall. Instead of being a triangle forcing teenage girls to choose an angle, there should be a natural progression and balance of all three. Finding that balance, girls would be pure until they are ready and eventually become mothers. Thanks to the media, television and religious propaganda the balance between the three categories is nearly impossible to find and thus women accept and even relish their titles of Virgin, Mother or Whore.