When I was in 7th grade, I made the mistake of watching the horror film, "The Ring."
Throughout the entire movie, I squeezed my friend's hand, covered my eyes, and yelled "Make it stop!" "I can't watch!" "I CAN'T!"
And tonight, I found myself uttering these very words all over again.
Only this time, I wasn't in a dark theater watching a psycho-thriller. I was on my own couch, in my own apartment, watching episodes 1 and 2 of Bravo's new series, "Princesses: Long Island."
Although the cast of this show does not include a ghost-like child named 'Samara' who crawls out of wells, my experience watching "Princesses: Long Island" proved to be equally as terrifying.
Bravo describes "Princesses" as a "reality" show that documents the lives of six Jewish women in their late twenties and early thirties, who live at home... on Long Island... with their parents.
Their daily routines consist of shopping at designer stores, sunbathing by their parents' pools, and searching for wealthy Jewish doctors or lawyers to "put a ring on it."
They do not have jobs. They do not know how to take care of themselves. And they label neighborhoods with homes valued at less than $500,000 as "the ghetto."
Simply stated, their lives could not be farther from a Jewish woman's true reality.
The women on this show depict a disgracefully false representation of Jews, a shameful representation of women, and a humiliating representation of Long Islanders.
As a Jewish woman from New York, I could not be more appalled with the Bravo network's decision to air this train wreck of a show, and the cast members' decisions to fuel this stereotypical fire.
As human beings living in the "land of free," we have the right to portray ourselves in whatever manner we please (within the constraints of the law).
If these women want to be obnoxious... that's their prerogative, if they want to be spoiled beyond belief...that's also their prerogative, but when they start to generalize an entire population, religion, and community into the ridiculous molds they've set for themselves... THAT'S WHEN I HAVE A PROBLEM.
In the series premiere, Chanel (yes... that's really the name of the lead princess), proclaimed that women living at home with their parents until they're married is both a "Jewish thing" and a "Long Island Thing."
Well, I'm here to clear something up for the 1.24 million viewers who received this false information. It is not a "Jewish thing." It is not a "Long Island thing." It's simply a "Chanel thing." (And a "Chanel's 5 friends thing.")
I have Jewish friends - and friends of friends -- from all corners of the country (and the globe), none of whom share this show's mentality.
Like me, my friends are working full-time, financially independent, and living in their own apartments (with roommates who are not their parents).
The modern Jewish woman values her own career, far more than she values money. She understands her own self-worth, and does not need a husband to confirm her value.
She is not a princess in search of a prince. She is a human being who has to work hard, pay her own bills, and determine her own path in life. She does not let her parents -- or her husband -- do it for her.
Please: join me in boycotting this shamefully-stereotypical show. Women have made tremendous strides in the battle for equality and we cannot enable yet another Bravo network show to tarnish a religion's image and set a gender back in time.
It's time to STOP labeling -- STOP stereotyping -- and STOP generalizing groups of people based on their religion, their ethnicity, or their location.
If we can stop categorizing one another, maybe... just maybe... we, as a human race will start to focus on the qualities that unite us -- rather than the qualities that set us apart. Maybe...just maybe... we'll embrace a culture of acceptance and put an end to all types of discrimination.
It starts with you. It starts with this boycotting this show and replacing it with a show that depicts people in both a positive and inspiring light.
LOL (Lindsey Out Loud)