A Woman Needs to Roar

When No Doubt’s “Return of Saturn” was released, reviewers were dismayed by lead singer Gwen Stefani’s desperation over not having a family. Stefani was, after all, barely 30; why should she feel like a spinster?

Because, as Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan said in her commentary (“Hey, I Thought You Said It Was OK to Be Single,” April 24), it is not OK to be a thirtysomething single woman, no matter how successful you are. But Tan missed out on the fact that it’s not just women in their 30s who are feeling disapproval over being unattached: Watch any Gen X-targeted show and you’ll see teens and young women getting the same message.

“Dawson’s Creek” recently focused on a Dawson-Joey-Pacey love triangle with teens all over the country wondering whom Joey was going to pick. I wondered why she had to pick at all. Katie Holmes’ Joey is beautiful and intelligent, the only person in Cape-

side with a real shot at being a success. Why is it so important for her to have a man? In the post-feminist age, it shouldn’t matter so much, but it does.

Shows like “Seventh Heaven” and “Friends” feature young women who cannot be secure unless they are attached. If teens are being sent this message, what hope do thirtysomethings have of escaping the same scrutiny? We need one teenager on television to choose to be happy with herself without a partner to spark a change in popular culture’s and, maybe, society’s attitudes toward single women.

Until then, we really have no one else to be identified with but the frazzled Ally, frumpy Bridget and torn Joey.

DEVLIN SMITH

Ontario