Like Courtney Stodden, Your Daughter Too Can Aspire To Prance On A Beach

Courtney Stodden is allegedly 17 year old and clearly in a publicity stunt marriage. In a further attempt to garner press attention, she went frolicking around the beach in a white bikini and made out with her 51-year-old husband. Her efforts to make a name for herself using just youth and sex appeal, while explicitly lacking any sort of talent, is an important distinction to make in front of children.

Kids today regard fame quite differently than yesteryear as hard work, discipline, skill, and the refinement of a talent have faded from some of our most celebrated personalities. There remain the handful of uniquely talented individuals who are clearly gifted and work diligently, but look around. When was the last time you spotted a new actress with a young Meryl Streep quality? Or perhaps noted an up and coming Kate Winslet on the screen?

Performers like these are becoming fewer and farther between in age in which fame can be achieved via a silly YouTube video or hitting a certain number of Twitter followers. Modern teens and kids have watched some of their peers skyrocket to fame simply by developing an online presence or sparking some internet attention. It doesn’t take many resources or skills to upload a video or slap together a blog, and as more and more unremarkable people are brought into the public eye via reality television (I’m looking at you Real Housewives), we see that cost is also a factor. While this shift in the accessibility of fame does give us some interesting voices, like 15-year-old Tavi Gevinson who was discovered via her fashion blog when she was 12 years old, the same medium also gives us kids like Courtney Stodden.

It’s worth noting to children that they’re growing up in age in which more people than ever are looking to receive them and their talents — provided that they have one. The constant buzz of the internet around people who are not particularly talented can be confusing to ambitious children who look out on the plane of media and see a lot of cosmetically altered faces and figures.

Remind them that Meryl Streep never had to marry someone to get her career off the ground, that Tina Fey has been named one of the highest paid women on television, and that heels at the beach are always a no-no.

(photo: dailymail.co.uk)