Are WAGs such a terrible influence on girls?

Families are good and WAGS bad, according to a new website aimed at the parents of daughters. To mark the launch of Mydaughter.co.uk, parents were asked about the impact of various groups of people on their daughters. Family came top, with "It" girls and WAGS at the bottom. Does that mean we parents can all feel very proud? Are we finally doing something right? Or is it just that Coleen, Carly Zucker and friends are doing something wrong?

"It is the whole celebrity culture," explained Jill Berry, the new president of the GSA. "Wags are famous because of their situation rather than their skills or talent."

I'm not convinced about this - particularly because reality TV stars were also in the mix and came out higher than the other two. Do they have more talent than "It" girls, or simply less inherited money? I wonder if there is some snobbery involved in this poll! And I also wonder if the girls themselves would have come up with a different order.

Other influences included friends (second only to family, which may surprise some parents of teenage girls), teachers (who will be delighted to have made third place), Olympians (I'm guessing they mean the likes of Rebecca Adlington rather than Eddie Edwards) and business woman. And boyfriends come out higher than the media and politicians....

The questions were asked as part of an in-depth look at what most concerns parents about their daughters. The survey - of over 1000 parents with girls aged 12 to 18 - found that the "quality of her education" was the area which most worried mums and dads, above drink and drugs, and sex. I was surprised by this, but as the new website is backed by the Girls' School Association, perhaps I shouldn't be. Bullying was also on this list, and ranked most highly for those parents with younger daughters (aged 12). Also listed was the lovely phrase "her becoming rebellious", which was cited by 7 percent of parents as the area they were most worried about. If they have teenage girls, I'm afraid this concern will almost certainly be fulfilled...

PS For those who don't know, WAGS stands for "wives and girlfriends" and has become used for the partners of England (yes, it seems to be specifically English!) footballers...

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Comments

[NB]

I used to be a neighbour of the Coles, and there seems to be an element of snobbery toward them as they are wealthy but working class. Are the Wags really any different to the scores of 'Middle/Upper Class' West London women that I regularly see with wealthy husbands? The only difference is the accent but little else. There are plenty of toxic wives in Belgravia, and remember Cheryl also has a very successful career of her own.

[hari]

I personally think a big part of the problem is this proliferation of reality shows where wannabes can get their five minutes for doing absolutely nothing. It's even less difficult than snagging a footballer boyfriend and living off him. and finally in one step removed from prostitution..

[Al]

I think it is aweful that these WAGs, who probably have no talent, sponge off relatives or the tax payer and live pretty pointless lives. Worst of all they are always in the public eye and are terrible role models, particularly with their long history of extra-marital affairs and divorce. I think it is high time some headmistress gave the Windsors And Gang a jolly good talking to.

[Sammy]

I would take anything published on the mydaughter site with a large pinch of salt. Mydaughter is merely a marketing tool for girls schools and has a vested interest in scaremongering parents to believe that only a private education will shield their girls from vulgar types. They're just miffed that the wags who are mostly working/lower middle class girls have snagged some wealthy eligible young men.

There are plenty of gold digging types at girls schools too, the only difference is that they will go on to enjoy the unearned wealth of city bankers, CEOs and trust funds and have cut glass accents!

[Charlie]

The key is to help build girls' self-esteem, then they'll have more resistance to all the sorts of pressures mentioned. I went to one of these schools and had a terrible experience of being bullied by jealous, competitive, insecure girls. I must say Ms Berry would be better off looking at how girls' schools could foster self esteem, healthy body image and overall confidence alongside academic results.

[Peter Coates]

One step removed from prostitution

[kim]

WAGs deserve to feature at the bottom of this list, they should'nt be treated as role models. They are talentless boring personalities and do not earn the money, fame and power they get. Parents should encourage their children to use their skills and education to move upwards in society, not be known for their "fake orange tan".

[Julian Hutchings]

The root cause is not WAG's per se, it is the celebrity status we give to our football players who achieve demi-god status. The next stage is to focus on their wives as we only see football players for 90 minutes in any given week. They are worshipped for the pornographic salaries they earn so it is natural to follow the bling and see how they spend it. It all bounces back to the celebrity status they are given. Less columns like this and less press saturation would remove them from the public eye. This is my opinion would be a godsend.

[Alex]

They make children cry for LV bags and Prada shoes. It's a complete disgrace.

[Charlotte]

Oh, honestly. Are parents really self centred enough to rank 'family' as the best influence on their daughters? Girls across the country could have drug addicted parents, car burning siblings and a debauched extended family. The 'best' influences on daughters will be of a massive spectrum, for one it may be a teacher, another, Cheryl Cole. The 'best' influence would be whatever inspires a girl to make the most of her life.

[Ian Kemmish]

There's certainly something just a little endearing about a woman whose sole aim in life is to relieve an ill-educated, ill-behaved boor of the terrible burden of his unearned wealth....

[Hol]

I think it's a bit unfair to blame this solely on WAGs. For one thing, the whole 'WAG' thing was started by the media who for reasons unknown suddenly decided to pay more attention to what the girls were up to at the European Cup than the players. For another, plenty of WAGs don't just sit on their backsides and do actually have discernible careers. Louise Redknapp would be a prime example (a very low key footballer's wife), Jamelia and Cheryl Cole have successful singing careers - and even someone like Coleen Rooney who only achieved fame through her boyfriend is at least trying to make a plausible presenting/ publishing career out of it rather than just being one of those who merely splash cash and fall out of clubs.

I personally think a big part of the problem is this proliferation of reality shows where wannabes can get their five minutes for doing absolutely nothing. It's even less difficult than snagging a footballer boyfriend and living off him

[jonquil]

who are wags?