I’ve always been seen as the girl-next-door, the little sister, and much to my dislike, the mom-figure.  I can deal with the girl next door or little sister stereotype because most times it works to my advantage. But I have to draw the line as being seen as the mom-figure. Here’s an embarrassing tidbit: at my sorority award ceremony I was voted “Most likely to be the Best Mom.” I was speechless; after all this time with these girls, all those memories, that’s how they see me?!  I do care a lot about my friends and make sure that their needs are met before mine, but there is no way I want people to look at me as the old lady mama. OK, so maybe they meant it in a good way; they see that I’m caring and considerate of other’s feelings and needs and I do make pretty good chocolate chip cookies. But come on!

In addition to being seen as a great potential mother, I’ve held the girl next door stereotype for as long as I can remember. Mothers loved me and wanted their sons to date me, but to them I was “one of the boys” or their “little sister.”  No guy wants to date their little sister. (My love life has been plagued by numerous by Kristin/ Brody relationships,minus the FWB.) No, instead of dating they would rather torment, tease and give occasional noogies to me. I guess you could say that after 10 years of this “sibling love” I was used to it.  Hey, at least I know that I have a group of great friends behind me who would back me up.  No one wants to see their little sister get hurt, am I right?

Sure being the girl-next-door has its upsides, but the downsides that come with the stereotype can be frustrating.  I’m seen as purely innocent—I can do no evil.  I couldn’t possibly have a mean bone in my body and I most definitely would never get in trouble. Basically, I’m boring. So once I got to college and met a fresh batch of people, I wanted nothing more then to shed that image. Read More »

There’s nothing more annoying than when celebrities complain about their hard-knock lives.

In this month’s issue of Elle magazine, People.com reports that Jessica Biel opens up about the struggles of being hot in today’s Hollywood. Gag me.

In the article, Jessica says, “Parts that I want aren’t going to me. Like “The Other Boleyn Girl” with Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman. I don’t want to say there’s nothing I love that I can’t have. But there’s still the occasional script that the director doesn’t want to see you for. They want that top tier of girls.”

Biel was named “Sexiest Woman Alive” by Esquire magazine and said, “I thought the Esquire cover was going to be really positive for my career. But it wasn’t, really. [One director told me] ‘I’m not looking for the sexiest woman; I’m looking for the girl next door.’”

Here is the photograph that appears next to the new Elle article. Is it just me, or does this scream contradiction?

I really feel for you, Jess. You’re more than just the pretty face and killer body everyone associates with you as an actress. By the way, here she is, not exploiting her sexiness. And here she is again. And again. Read More »