Everyone needs a role model, some might say their big sister or their best friend, or even a famous celebrity. Nope, not me. I’d say a fictional character. In the film Legally Blonde, aged just 22, Miss Elle Woods faces rejection, heart break and is stripped of her dignity all on account of being blonde. No one takes the poor girl seriously. Her long term boyfriend won’t marry her, Harvard Law only accept her for “diversity” reasons despite having the necessary GPA score and her new boss makes a pass at her, even though by this point in the movie she’s his best intern. Four out of 10 women in the UK are blonde and we’ve all been the butt of a blonde joke every now and then, we even admit to having “blonde moments” and that’s fine, we own it! But how many use it to their advantage? We’re often labelled bimbos, associated with the colour pink, we contrast considerably badly with fake tan and god help you if you own a Chihuahua. But Elle Woods, makes a dutiful attempt to show us that despite being a pink loving, bubble gum chewing, sparkly shoe wearing, Chihuahua owning type of gal, she no longer needs the approval of dumb
ass ex-boyfriend Warner. Actually, she realises she can take control of her own life just the way she is, she doesn’t need to tone herself down in any way, she can still achieve grades, she can graduate, get an awesome job in which she excels, in a “serious” male dominant profession and she can find a guy who respects the hell out of her, all whilst being Elle. Once she gets wind of her selfworth, there’s no putting the lid on Elle’s jar. That’s why Elle Woods, the fictional character from Legally Blonde, is my role model. Selfworth is the most important thing a woman in her 20’s can have. You have to go through the run of the mill to figure it out, but when you get there! By god, it’s liberating. Having standards for yourself and what you put out into the world is an amazing place to start, but being sure of what you expect from others in your life and choosing where to make exceptions and why, is invaluable. So as Elle once said “No more boring suits or pantyhose, no more trying to be somebody I’m not!” but I mean if you’re a fan of suits and pantyhose, you do you girl. By Ellie Wood