'The Hunger Games' opens today. I will go and see it once the teenaged hordes have dissipated. Katniss Everdeen is the latest in the very pleasing list of strong, smart, resourceful heroes who happen to be female. She joins Lisbeth Salander and Sarah Lund on my shelf of hope. No stripper heels, no silicone tits, no hair extensions. No being saved. Hooray. 
Because this is such a necessary step in recalibrating the way women are represented. And in turn, how young women then choose to represent themselves. And how society views them. I saw some footage of Bananarama recently - I remember them as silly and poppy, but from the vantage point of 2012 they seem like assertive feminists, confident and answerable to nobody in their baggy trousers and stompy DMs. I am deeply grateful that I was a teenager when it was OK to wear charity shop coats and old man trousers. The packaging doesn't matter - it's what's inside that counts. But if the packaging says 'objectify me', then it's always going to be hard to seen and valued as you really are.
It's such a relief to see popular culture moving in a direction that actually supports women.
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