A Mom's Thank You to Justin Bieber

Which Of These Two Would You Rather Your Daughter Idolize? 


I never thought I'd say this, but we watched Justin Bieber's Never Say Never movie last night and then this morning Rihanna sang her S&M glorification on the Today Show - and I get it now. Why do moms support what is now called Bieber Fever?

First of all he's immensely talented and will only get better as he gets older. But that's not why. It's because so much of the music our young girls are listening to is about abuse, and random sex, and setting people on fire and rape and it's endless. The messages that these young female pop stars are sending to our girls are horrific. Let men beat you up, hurt you, just go back for more (Rihanna).  Of course, you should go out and pick some guy off a dance floor in a club and have sex with him in the bathroom or your car or wherever you can find that gives immediate gratification (Brittney). And what about getting raped by an alien and how sexy and wonderful that would be? (Katy Perry).

I realize that this is the stuff that sells but Justin Bieber sells too. And you can't shut the awful messages off. They're everywhere. How do you tell your 11 year-old daughter who knows all of these songs word for word and sings them constantly how totally screwed up that is? Where are all those conservatives and liberals too while pop music is literally instructing our girls on how wonderful it is to be hurt?

But not Justin Bieber. He's about the music I grew up with. Love and romance and your prince will come and you can do anything you want as long as you try your hardest.  How can we moms not embrace that? A quick comparison of Justin Bieber versus some of his female pop star rivals.

Here's Brittney - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jrZqdLVGxw

Here's Justin - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ExWsVFJlFo 

Here's Rihanna - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh5LMOX-N18

Here's Justin - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z5-P9v3F8w 

What more can I say? Thank you Justin Bieber for at least letting me remember what it was like when we sang of love, and a bright future, and all of the good things about youth. And for giving my 11 year-old daughter positive messages and someone to idolize who acts like and sings about what it's like to be a normal kid.