Who were your top role models?
What gender was your role models growing up?
- Male
- Female
- Both
- Trans
- Other
- Had none
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Hello everyone I was thinking the other day… well reminiscing about when I was growing up. And I started to think about the people who influenced me, and who I looked up too, and who I wanted to be like. Some of my role models have changed of course now and some I am still aspiring to be like. I should have found it curious that just about all of my role models were female but never did. Not all of my role models were real as I grew up in the TV generation, and the Greatest American Hero song is still stuck in my head (pssst, he was not one of my role models bet just a catchy toon). I did not know that any famous transgender people or gay for that matter so I never really looked up to them, guess my dads homophobia set the tone for the family. I always like the strong Bond girls like Octopussy and the kick but ones like Bambi and Thumper and of course the smart sexy ones that twisted Bond around their fingers. But some of my top fictional role models are Delilah from Samson and Delilah, Galadriel from Lord of the Rings, Cleopatra from the old version of the movie, and my favorite Anne Shirley of Green Gables, all glamorized by the movies of course. Anne holds a special place in my heart as she was everything I wanted to be the others just had strong traits I liked.
And although she was a mess I really liked Marylin Monroe, she made Hollywood actresses real for me. For real life I have my Mom and my aunt Boots. My Mom for obvious reasons as she raised me and was my very own. And my aunt Boots, well she was not actually an aunt she was a non-related friend of my Mom’s Mom. Her husband had died early in their marriage and she had no kids, so she pretty much adopted my Mom and her sister as her own. So I was her grandkid by default. She was a world traveler as she lived off her husband’s life insurance for just about her whole life, she brought the coolest little gifts from cultures all over the world and gave them too us when we were little at Christmas time. She was smart and witty, had the coolest adventure stories as she had put foot her on every continent and at least 1/2 the countries. She lived till 104 when she passed, and just the memory of her puts a smile to my face.
Now I try and think back as to the guys/men I wanted to be like, and you know what I can not think of any. I had my martial arts instructors and movie gods like Bruce Lee but I never looked up to them as a role model to be like. You would think other little boys wanted to be like Batman and GIGO, or Luke Skywalker, or Neal Armstrong, or a school teacher, or even their fathers. I just never did. How strange of a kid was I, no wonder I was shy and had only a few friends and even they weren’t close.
So how about you all? Care to stroll down memory lane and share who were your role models?
Miriya
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Growing up, I guess female role models were all over the place. I really loved Mary Tyler Moore and Carol Burnett. I guess I looked up to them, but didn’t really have a grasp as to why so much. The Bond Girls, as somone mentioned, were of course beautiful and always to be admired. As it turns out in one of the early movies, Caroline Cossey famously was outed as transgender later on. I just finished one of her books, what a story. Nowadays I always view women, from all walks of life, as role models, the way the hold themselves, style, makeup. It all inspires me. As CC says above, I could never really emulate them at the time, but was enamoured of them none the less.
My role models; hmm, not to be conceded, but ‘me’, ‘myself’, and ‘I’. I list those people because I do not want to compete with anyone on whether or not I am pretty enough, sexy enough, have the best hair, nicest clothes, etc. While I may look for ideas and suggestions, I don’t look to others as role models. Michelle
Parents and some other family members did have an influence, both male and female.
When I was young it was Nancy and Peggy (the Amazons) from the Swallows and Amazons books and another Amazon, Wonder Woman. The only ‘male’ role model I can think of that was outside of my family is Doctor Who.
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Ah Doctor Who, I never watched but they say in one of the new versions he was replaced by a female. Funny how society has changed, Buck Rogers was casted by a female, and so was Robin Hood in the remakes. The strong empowerment of action hero women will be the influencers and heroes of the next generations. Kind of sad the ultra feminine hero’s like Cleopatra and such are getting replaced by action heroes. And what will happen to all those young men who should be a knight in shining armor to save the damsels if all the damsels save them selfs. Personally I like the concept of a chivalry. Just today I had an odd experience where a beautiful woman held the door for me like a gentleman would. If i wasn’t spoken for I would have let her pursue me as well. 🥰
Miriya
😃😃😃
I totally agree Miri about this slow change of societal roles. Wonder Woman was a very good movie, and a remake, but Gal Gadot has brought so much to the role that all the girls want to be WW now. All of the women want to be either Gal Gadot or with her, lol! Role changing is a perspective, point of view, and Gadot is a gorgeous woman. Who wouldn’t want to be either WW or her or be with her! Heroes and leaders whether charismatic or not should be aware of the latent capability they have of persuasion and their affect on change.
Doctor Who I got hooked on when I was stationed in Germany during the early eighties. I was the only real SciFi show we got on AFN TV (armed forces network TV).
Danielle 💋👠🦋👗
For me it would have to be Princess Leia, Wonder Woman, Super Girl, The Lone Ranger, John Wayne, and Sally Fields. Odd mix but it does reflect my generation and what was relevant as a kid through my teen years. The Bond girls are a given as role models as they were either top models or actresses of the times and of course Seam Connery is the man! Anyway my generation was rife with role models to choose from and there was so much hope for the future of this country and the world. Alas, the abandonment of the space shuttle program just Feels like a huge mistake. But my all time role model is Christa McAuliff. A school teacher from Ohio who was chosen to go up on a shuttle mission which ended in tragedy. How brave to be a non military person, a normal teacher, and go into the most hazardous environment known to man just to do some experiments to teach children. I mourn our loss of a true hero and a space program which was second to none.
Danielle💋👠
Danielle,
Princess Leia was of course a strong character but somehow my mind was set by the 1st (New Hope) movie and she was not as cool till the later movies. Super Girl I liked in the new series and Cat from season 1 was a great character that I would have loved to have as a mentor. To bad she left by season 2. I even did a Kara costume for a Halloween party one year. Should have taken photos as I though I looked fabulous. 😊 Cat woman of course too. Did her as a costume too but the Halloween event that year my spouse was along for the ride as Harley Quinn and I was out shined. 😄
And I agree the gen X’s of the time had so much hope for the future, with tons of positive role models. I wonder what happened or did I just grow up and lose my blindness of youth.
And yes I remember the shuttle disaster, watched it live as it happened on TV from school😢. As an Embry Riddle graduate 👩🎓 and sci-fi fan the space program has/had a special place in my heart for a very long time. And I can not agree more that defuncting the shuttle program was a greedy and bad move for the USA. Should have been revamped however as the shuttles are relics of the past. My hope is the private sector will fill in the gaps.
Miriya
Hi Miri,
That shuttle disaster was one I watched on TV at my last duty station in the USAF. We were in the middle of a war week (annual operational inspection) and we were all standing around in full chemical gear stunned. The inspection was canceled and flags went to half mast. Both shuttle disasters affected the world in different ways but I felt there was more which could have been done to revitalize the program after the second one. I still believe that the USAF space division will put a shuttle of some type into operation in the near future. Mankind’s future is not here on Earth but out beyond our solar system. If we don’t explore our solar system and beyond I feel Mankind will perish along with our planet. It may even be too late already at the rate of polar ice cap melt.
Whew that was dark! Sorry! Christa will be a true hero in my heart. Firefighters and Police officers and the military are the true hero’s of the day, Teachers too just because of either protecting us or teaching us they are underpaid and overworked.
Love ❤️ and hugs 🤗
Danielle💋👠
Although didn’t feel very close to either at the time both my parents had a great influence on my life . . . well duh you say? Both encouraged independence in all us 4 kids and were very supportive, accepting and loving (and which I tried to pass along to mine).
People I admired/wish to emulate growing up? Catherine Deneuve & Lauren Bacall come to mind.
There were certainly a lot of people who influenced me, but I really can’t give a name of a role model. I couldn’t really emulate a femme role model while buried deep in a closet and I never really quite understood even the traditional male role models. That’s not to say I didn’t have great influencers in my life. I did manage to raise two wonderful young adults and build a career.
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