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If you've read my first couple of blog entries, you know that one of my obsessions of the moment is the whole kindergarten thing. Having a 4-year-old daughter does that to you.

I also find myself more and more concerned with the larger issue of raising a healthy girl in today's toxic climate.

Let me explain.

As a feminist (yes, there it is, I used the F-word), I hope to raise a strong, smart girl who is self-possessed and confident.

Yet, I feel hampered in my efforts by what I'll call the Britney-Paris-Lindsay effect. Newsweek chronicled this phenomenon a few weeks ago in a headline that screamed "Girls Gone Bad!"

And it's not just White, privileged girls gone bad. A teacher friend tells me that there is a girl rap group -- Rebelde, translated "Rebel"  -- whose fishnet stockings and mini skirts are sending panic waves through the Latino community.

While I am strongly in favor of the First Amendment and would never seek to censor artists, the press or mass media, I am struggling with how to counteract the negative images of women in the media. I know that in a year of two my daughter will want to be like these girls -- tattoos, piercings, mini-skirts and all. And she will be absorbing society's negative comments about strong women in the public eye, such as Hillary Clinton or Condoleezza Rice.

What's a feminist mommy to do?

The Newsweek article rightly points out that this certainly isn't the first time in history that we've been bombarded by images of "bad girls." Madonna anyone? Betty Page? Catherine the Great?

Yet it is the first time that their images are splashed across all forms of media 24/7.

As the Newsweek article also points out -- and my own educational research has documented-- in many ways, girls and women are doing better than ever. They are now the majority of undergraduates -- out numbering male college students 60 to 40 percent - as well as the majority in medical school and law school. Women now hold real positions of power around the globe: secretary of state, prime minister, senator, governor.

So -- if we've really 'come a long way, baby' -- why does this current climate feel so toxic for girls? Is it a backlash against the progress of women (as Naomi Wolfe first argued over a decade ago)?

Or is it just more interesting to follow Britney's downward spiral than it is to celebrate the strong, accomplished women in the public eye?