Top head teacher urges girls to ditch Kardashian as role model

Young women should ditch role models such as reality star Kim Kardashian West in favour of Shakespeare's heroine Cleopatra, a top private school headteacher has said.
File photo dated 21/05/16 of Kim Kardashian West as thieves who robbed her  at gunpoint were targeting possessions seen on social mediaFile photo dated 21/05/16 of Kim Kardashian West as thieves who robbed her  at gunpoint were targeting possessions seen on social media
File photo dated 21/05/16 of Kim Kardashian West as thieves who robbed her at gunpoint were targeting possessions seen on social media

Jane Lunnon, from Wimbledon High School in west London, said teenagers could learn more about projecting a positive self-image by studying the female lead in Shakespeare’s tragedy than by following the social media posts of the selfie queen.

History has depicted Cleopatra as a great beauty, befitting a Queen of Egypt who seduced Julius Caesar and his rival, Mark Antony.

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Kardashian West, who is married to rapper Kanye and was robbed at gunpoint in Paris this week, has become a totem of both acclaim and derision for her fashion sense and lifestyle after rising to prominence with fly-on-the-wall TV series Keeping Up With The Kardashians.

Speaking at the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference, held in the Bard’s birthplace of Stratford-upon-Avon, Mrs Lunnon said: “I think Shakespeare was saying with Cleopatra that you are allowed to be flawed and powerful and brilliant and still have enormous influence.

“The thing about Cleopatra is it’s .. about image and how she sells the myth of Cleopatra. Kim Kardashian is selling the myth about Kim Kardashian.

“Shakespeare’s Cleopatra did the same thing ... a lone female voice when all the other women in Antony And Cleopatra are basically powerless.”

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Mrs Lunnon has launched a pilot scheme at her school where pupils will study Shakespearean characters and re-imagine them in contemporary surroundings in an effort to channel some of their more desirable characteristics.

It was prompted a straw poll of pupils at the school which found girls were more likely to consider Kardashian West and pop star Taylor Swift to be their role models, rather than education campaigner Malala Yousafzai and US First Lady Michelle Obama.

Mrs Lunnon, a mother to two teenage daughters, said: “I have nothing against them but I wonder to what extent Kim Kardashian as a role model is a lot to do with inches - either column or physical.

“It’s well documented there is a paucity of role models that are speaking to girls at the moment in Western society and it made me think where else can we look for them?

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“As an English teacher I’m very used to using Shakespeare as a great source for intellectual stimulation and exploration - but really probing and using Shakespeare as a pastoral educational tool I thought was really interesting and, in particular, Shakespeare’s characters as role models.”