Author Christine M Knight’s Blog

How important are male role models in shaping what girls and young women value?

International readers please note that Christine uses the British spelling system.

Male role models are critical in shaping what girls and women value and what they reject. Girls and young women learn how to interact in a variety of situations from the male role models in their lives just as they do their female role models. What men appear to value influences how a young woman shapes herself, her behaviour, and her aspirations. So men have an extraordinarily strong influence over what girls and young women value just as the entertainment industry does. That is why the Robin Thicke  / Miley Cyrus 2013 performance brought such criticism.

A diverse range of male and female role models is important in the life of a child and teenager. Why? Male and female role models demonstrate the codes of interaction and the boundaries for acceptable and unacceptable behaviour. It is a major contributing factor in learning how to form positive relationships: personal, emotional, workplace and career.  It is crucial to long term well-being for a young person to learn how to belong to the world in which that person lives.