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| Yes | 29% | 35 votes | Total: 120 votes | |
| No | 71% | 85 votes |
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Add to FavoritesWith children and teenagers being impressionable and with the media being absorbed in all things Hollywood, finding a good role model has gotten consistently harder. While it would be preferred that these children look up to a successful, hard-working, loving individual they know personally rather than an overhyped, often overrated celebrity that is the ideal, and often not the case. More often than not learning that people you know personally have been your role model all along comes with growth and self-discovery. But when you're young and trying to fit in, especially if you're a girl, it is usually a celebrity you identify with and try to model yourself after. This is why celebrities get bombarded with questions about high school, bullying and the prom knowing what a celebrity did in a typical high school dilemma can influence a fan, who absorbs his/her favorite star's words of wisdom and applies it to their life. Which is why it doesn't matter if adults do not approve, or celebrities say they don't want to be labeled as a role model once they become famous being a role model for someone, somewhere was already predestined and the celebrity's resistance to that label becomes futile.
Once we accept that celebrities are role models, even if it is begrudgingly so, it is easy to see that Rihanna should be considered a good role model to teen girls. Coming from Barbados to follow her dream, Rihanna's talent and drive have made her the superstar she is today. Teenagers can see, through Rihanna's career that following one's dreams can lead to great achievements. That attitude can inspire young, creative teens to work harder toward reaching their goals, knowing that it could happen to them.
Rihanna, although some may disagree, is one of the tamer pop stars in music. While she is constantly trying to be edgy and concerned parents can say that she performs in outfits that could be deemed inappropriate, none of the outfits she wears or songs she sings can rival the provocative, overtly sexual outfits and lyrics Christina Aguilera donned/sang in her Stripped era. And Britney Spears' "If U Seek Amy" is raunchier than "Shut Up and Drive" ever hoped to be. Her album "Good Girl Gone Bad" was filled with feel-good dance hits like Umbrella and Please Don't Stop the Music, most of which weren't nearly as sexual or controversial as any of the music Spears' or Aguilera have produced in the past. Her outrageous style may entice young girls, but there is also very little from her looks that they can apply to their street style, unlike the belly button-bearing ways of her two predecessors.
The mark of a true role model is a person who admits that they are not perfect. They make mistakes and learn from them, and subsequently allow others to learn from their mistakes as well. Parents can also use these errors in judgment to teach the lessons they feel they need to. Some have called Rihanna a bad role model for briefly going back to Chris Brown after the alleged attack. And while going back to Brown may not have been the popular decision, it was her decision to make and no one knows, other than speculation, what the nature or duration on the reunion was. And as horrible as that situation was, the events of that night (albeit unintentionally) opened up a dialogue between teens and their parents about relationship abuse a conversation that was all but ignored before, but since being on the front page of magazines, is now one that will be discussed more often. And yes, what happened that night and the fallout from it, in no way add to Rihanna being a role model, it certainly doesn't detract. Watching how a person reacts to any negative situation reveals a lot about character, and Rihanna seems to have handled the situation with class, escaping the spotlight for a while to focus on herself and her work.
In our tabloid-obsessed culture, there are never-ending stories about starlets and pop stars that cannot seem to get their act together, socialites famous for being socialites and reality stars famous for nothing. Rihanna is one of very few who shine as the exception. She is kind, smart, talented and deserving of her success none of which are qualities one wouldn't want to see instilled in the next generation.
Learn more about this author, Nicole Hogsett.
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No
I believe that, for someone known in the public eye or not, people choose either to be role models or not. You may not want or choose to be one, and some people may still say that you are, technically, however, I beg to differ that if the individual does not clearly accept this title or "role" of the role model, and under serious terms, then they are thus, excluding themselves from being a leader of the people that follow after them or "model themselves" perhaps, and that they are just truly really leading and accepting responsibilities for themselves only. Living their "own lives" generally for themselves, which is what I think and wish most people, and a lot more, would do in this world today rather than have someone else or their opinions, lifestyle and perception weighing in on having such an influence on their being. It is the "role followers", that are the ones that choose to be the emulators, by a matter of choice through what is perceived to be, of what we generally gather of these people, whether it be through the medias sources or good old fashioned real life assimilation, through traditional interaction of course.
I feel the one's that "choose" to lead and take this role, or position, of true leadership like the Dr. Martin Luther King's, Malcolm X's, Michael Jackson's, Michael Jordan's, Russell Simon's, Oprah Winfrey's, Tyra Bank's, Beyonce's, Reverend Run's, Angelina Jolie's, Tyler Perry's and Michelle Obama's, no matter what they do, are the true role models, and people modeling and marketing or selling a behavior and ideals to the people to learn from and choose to follow or not. These are the mentors of society. So far, I can't say that I have seen much of this from the singer/performer Rihanna in the medias so I guess until she decides to do so, I'm going to have to say a NO, in response to that debated question and that she is really just still learning, growing & becoming who he is and is eventually going to be consistently.
If anything I think Chris Brown is trying to play that role of "the role model" a lot more than his girlfriend, even now in his unfortunate predicament and is much more vocal about things despite his actions throughout his history in the media's, looking back to some of his work with Oprah and Tyra Banks. And if anything, I think some of that might have rubbed off on Rihanna, who was not as much in the public eye really till dating Chris. And though some may compare, play judge and put artist against, and artist's action, action for action, play by play, as to try to judge what is really a role model, by course of actions of course, I do disagree with this ideology of assessments and would say it's about the attempt to be the hero or heroin, to others that they are reaching, which is what really what makes them responsible influencers more than what they are wearing, singing and acting like in my opinion.
Also, there are good and bad, or should I say positive and negative, role models in life. I mean was not Adolph Hitler a role model in his time to many, despite a lot of the world who didn't subscribe to his personal views? It's more than what you do, but that you stand for something and are committed to causes for others, being a model citizen, playing a role in society, no matter how positive or negative determined through the people's eyes, and no matter who decides to follow them.
Learn more about this author, Guillaume Artigiano.
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