TeenTimes / Dearbhail O'Crowley:People always assume that if you're a teenage girl and you admire a female celebrity, you must want to act, dress, and essentially be just like her.
Admittedly, there are some girls who like to model themselves on celebrities and if they want to end up looking like clones, that's their business.
However, not many of us are that impressionable. Nor do our lives totally revolve around celebrities.
I wish tabloids, magazines and the media in general would get it out of their heads that we all want to dress exactly like Kate Moss. Sure, the girl is undeniably stylish, but most of us are able, and want, to create our own unique look.
Of course, we all have role models, but while I admire Angelina Jolie's tireless work for charity and high profile role as a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Goodwill Ambassador, I'm certainly not going to condone her behaviour in the debacle that was the break-up of Hollywood's (seemingly) perfect couple.
However, what's even more unfair than the press assuming that all teenage girls are simpering fools who want to turn into clones of their superstar idols, is the assumption that all these stars need to be angels.
Why can't celebrities be allowed to live their own lives? Celebrities shouldn't have to conform to strict standards imposed by society, if society itself fails to adhere to these standards. I'm not saying that they should go around breaking the law and biting the heads off bats, but alcohol and sex are legal after a certain age.
Celebrities, meanwhile, are expected to be the exception to the rule.
No one can deny that in the last 50 years Ireland's promiscuity has tripled 10 times over, but why then are celebrities expected to abstain from all that is a perfectly normal part of being young in our fast-paced modern society?
I'm not knocking people for liking celebrities. It's human nature to be interested in the lifestyles of people whom we place upon pedestals; I'm simply criticising people who think that anybody famous should be perfect.
Celebrities are humans too; underneath the many trappings associated with their superstar status, they still have the usual weaknesses and frailties.
If you or I were publicly criticised for doing something that is the norm, if we were held to a different standard, we would hate it. And yet this is exactly what we do to the rich and famous.
So instead of slamming celebrities or becoming imitations of them, I suggest that we just let them live their lives as they see fit. The feeble arguments against this statement seem to consist of entirely one point: look at the example they're setting to today's youth. But try to place a little faith in the teenagers of today.
I'm not saying that we're perfect - far from it, as my own parents will tell you. But this generation's adolescents are a lot more savvy than we get credit for. We are well able to make up our own minds about what we like and how we want to behave. We don't need to imitate some B-list celebrity. We are too busy being ourselves.
Dearbhail O'Crowley (17) is a transition year student at St Gerard's, Bray, Co Wicklow
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