Teen Times: It's ironic, I suppose. After the great lengths gone to over the years by innumerable women's groups, the suffragettes, and even the late CJ Haughey with his Succession Act, we, the youthful Mná na hÉireann have apparently come full circle, writes Kate Harrington

What we wanted was liberation. Equality in everything from parenting and housework to education - and to all intents and purposes we got it. But a decade or three after these achievements, victories and triumphs over the dreaded "male chauvinist pigs", young women seem to have become their own worst enemies; regarding themselves as pieces of meat, whose roles, placed above pursuing educational opportunities, careers or commitments to families, are to meet the often unattainable aesthetic and sexual desires of their male counterparts.

Of course it's fantastic that women are becoming increasingly comfortable with their sexuality after so many years when it was a taboo subject, and in my opinion ladies should continue to express that openly and creatively.

However, when "sexy" becomes defined as blonde, five feet eight inches and super skinny, as it most certainly has in recent years, the question must arise - has it all gone too far? And that is when the blame game begins.

It must be somebody's fault that the eight-year-old wants to straighten her hair, wear mini-skirts and put on more make-up then her mother. Got it! It must be the Pussycat Dolls, them and their peers with their raunchy lyrics and dress sense. The media - that's who's to blame for all this. An easy trap to fall into I'm sure. I, for one, am not thoroughly convinced.

You see there is a little sticker on albums such as those of the Pussycat Dolls, explaining that there are lyrics of an explicit nature on it, but parents buy them for their pre-pubescent children anyway. Just as they allow their children to spend hours sitting in front of MTV, following Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie on their travels, while using the word "hot" more frequently then an Irish person on holiday in Spain during a heat-wave.

At some point parents are going to have to take responsibility. Blaming the media seems like the easy way out, when parents should surely be keeping a watchful eye on their children's media consumption from the start, and educating them in the moral, ethical and social repercussions of how they choose to dress and behave, particularly around the opposite sex.

Of course, as our little eight-year-old grows up and starts making her own decisions, she too will have to take some responsibility for her actions. We can't blame Paris and the Dolls forever. Hopefully some day she will be able express her sexuality and femininity in her own individual way. Individual, just like everybody else.

Must run, I'm going out tonight and I can't decide what to wear, the black mini-dress with the spaghetti straps or the black and white strapless one. What would Paris do? More importantly, which would the guys in the bar prefer?

• Kate Harrington (18) studies New Media and English at the University of Limerick

• Submissions of 500-word articles are welcome from teenagers to teentimes@irish-times.ie. Please include a phone number