I introduce to you “The Modern American Feminist,” a new column dealing with being a feminist, and being a woman in general, in today’s society. I am currently pursuing my PHD in women’s studies and my bachelor’s in Journalism, and have decided to use this column to explore both worlds. I hope my ideas and beliefs piss off enough people to really think about the world we live in and the social politics we have. Hopefully this will open up the closed minds of so many.

I have sat in just too many classes wanting to stab my eyes out with my pen listening to some girl quote PARIS HILTON as if she were a god. It got to the breaking point when I heard one of my female classmates say (and believe me I cringed too), “She’s just like, so adorable, when she plays stupid, like Jess Simpson. I like, do that too to get away with stuff.” Playing stupid seems to be a growing trend among girls, (why be smart and intimidating when you can be dumb and pretty to guys!). It’s really hard for me to believe that as women, in college no less, we are finding it attractive to dumb ourselves down or using it to get away with things. Take the hit shows, “Beauty and the Geek,” on the WB or the “Simple Life,” for example. These shows are reinforcing every stereotype known to women, making sure to get classic moments of girls humiliating themselves for TV. Yet the more I listened to my classmates conversations and watch these shows, the more afraid I became of our future. Is that really what we as women fought so hard to have equal treatment for, to play stupid? Not wanting to be too judgmental I took a look at Ms. Hilton’s book, “Confessions of an Heiress,” (I use the term book loosely as it was really a picture book for people with the same IQ as her own) and I was not surprised at some of her brilliant advice which including riveting facts such as: “Act ditzy. Lose things. It throws people off and makes them think you’re ‘adorable’ and less together than you really are.” “Change you’re boyfriend as often as you’re mood.” “Let your parents take care of you.” One has to wonder what types of guys these girls are trying to attract with this dumb girl persona. Don’t they know smart girls are way sexier then a pretty face with nothing to say? Besides, playing dumb can only last so long before these men move on. (OH MY GOD! Like, didn’t like Nick and Jessica Simpson like, totally break up?! And didn’t she like, totally act stupid like 99% of the time?! And doesn’t like Paris have a new fiancí© every ten minutes?) So who really wins when girls play dumb? Guys who believe that that’s the type of girl for them, one far less intelligent? The media who rewards these girls by instant fame for being stupid? Or perhaps it’s the Ms. Hiltons and Ms. Simpsons of the world that win, with all of those peroxide girls following in their Gucci-clad footsteps, buying up their products in order to be the ultimate pretty, dumb girl.