There is safety in knowing your destiny, even if that destiny is uncomfortable. Insecurity about life's decisions steal this from us. Thirty years later, the fight for women's rights continues, and there are no clearly defined roles to ponder. Into this vacuum stepped big business, always ready to exploit a situation for profit. They bombard us with articles about how to be better, do more, be loved, none of which can be achieved without tremendous effort and a lot of money passing through their cash registers.
Women learn how to be women from their mothers and from society at large, including advertising.
They internalize these ideas and pass them onto their daughters, all the while believing they are providing good advice toward success. Society remains comfortable with this assault on women's dignity. Comedians throw out these heart wrenching lines, although they no longer ridicule other stereotypes, and everyone laughs. Janet Reno, Monica Lewinsky, Paula Jones, and Linda Tripp have all been cruelly victimized by late night comedians, not because of their actions or politics, but their appearance alone. We pretend these jokes don't bother us, but they do.