Tough Girls, Tough Women

If you want to know what the huge pop singer Pink thinks, you don't even have to ask. It's right there in her lyrics — "You don't want to mess with me."

And not just in Pink's lyrics, but all over the world of female pop these days: tough, in your face, take-no-prisoners young women. They are hard-boiled, brass-knuckled, foul-mouthed, and emotionally armored to the teeth.

And it's not just pop icons. It's a rugged, hyper-sexualized, no-rules world out there for lots of young women these days. And they're stepping up tough.

This hour On Point: tough girls, tough young women, and a new generation "armoring up."

Guests:

Debbie Stoller, Editor-in-Chief, Bust magazine

Laura Hamilton, sociology researcher and teacher at Indiana University

Elizabeth Goodman, writer, Rolling Stone magazine.