Nevertheless, we both experienced the usual scanxiety — the nervous feeling one gets at the approach of a scan date.

Sound Minnesota values and research for books such as “Girls & Sex” don’t make bestselling author Peggy Orenstein a fan of the impact the Kardashians have had on society. “Kim [Kardashian] gets fame and money in exchange for selling her sex appeal without changing a system that urges girls from an early age to view their bodies as projects to be constantly monitored and improved, a system that requires women in the public eye to be ‘hot’ in order to get ahead or even have a voice — whether they’re actors, singers, athletes, newscasters, lawyers, politicians, whether they are 15 or 65,” said Orenstein.[…]I was noticing that girls are marketed to from the earliest ages. What they learn in that marketing through the princess industrial complex and into the Kardashianization of girlhood is that how they look is more important than who they are.[…]In my most recent book, “Girls & Sex,” I write about how girls learn that self-absorption is the same as self-confidence. It means self-confidence is the same thing as being narcissistic. That’s the essence of the Kardashianization of girlhood.

My mother, answered Telemachus, tells me I am son to Ulysses, but it is a wise child that knows his own father.

When you send that message and tell these kids that you can succeed and you can make something of your life, that’s a very important message.