No, what surprises me are the many ways little Rachel changes the way I think about the media. More important, I've been thinking about the overall images of women my daughter will get from the media. On TV, there's Roseanne , cracking wise at her own family's expense. And Ellen DeGeneres makes sophisticated double-entendres about lesbianism and sexuality at 8 o'clock. In the movies, I'm suddenly paying attention to the roles and presentation of women and not being at all impressed.
Women are consistently victims or play second-banana to male leads.
These things that didn't even cross my mind a year ago make me wonder about an entire generation of Rachels out there. The pay-TV movie channels are the worst offenders, invading our homes with the most gratuitous, exploitative and violent films out there. I even found myself thinking I over-reacted in knocking Tipper Gore 's campaign for labeling record albums with lyrics that might be inappropriate for young children. I discussed all this with my friend Sean , whose daughter Olivia is two months older than Rachel. He said he was shocked to read children's books from a little girl's perspective.