LOS ANGELES -- The Idaho beauty queen who doesn't drink, smoke, or sip coffee or tea came to Hol... Beauty queen targets ugly b

LOS ANGELES -- The Idaho beauty queen who doesn't drink, smoke, or sip coffee or tea came to Hollywood this month on a personal mission to try to save the image of America's young women.

Like others distressed over what passes for a role model these days, 21-year-old Amanda Rammell was troubled by the antics of the high-profile Brit Pack: Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton, whose behavior has resorted to pantyless photo ops.

"The Internet photos, the partying, the drug abuse, just the level of sexual exploiting that they're using--it's out of control, and the way our girls are looking up to them isn't changing, and that's what's scary," said Rammell, a Mormon who's representing her state in this week's Miss USA pageant. The pageant's first round began Monday and the entire event culminates Friday--following a tumultuous reign for last year's winner, Tara Conner, who was caught up in a scandal of her own.

To counter the bad-girl behavior, Rammell counts herself among women leaders advancing their own campaigns, large and small, to offer good-girl alternatives.

Mandy Lynn Rammell, as she is known in pageant circles, is a curious contradiction. She's a Mormon whose faith emphasizes modesty, yet she comes from an iconoclastic family that's not afraid to make headlines. Moreover, as a tall brunet who doesn't mind the swimsuit competition, she wants to use a beauty pageant, which some consider exploitative of women, as a platform for her mission.

More resolute and confident in her agenda than many other contestants interviewed, Rammell portrays herself as the product of an Idaho ranch with "the morals, the education, the down-to-earth" traditions of that upbringing, and she says young women today have "unrealistic role models."

While no surveys exist quantifying a movement toward positive examples, advocates agree there is an urgent need for them, pointing to opinion polls such as one recently in Newsweek that indicated 77 percent of Americans think that Spears, Lohan and Hilton have too much influence on the nation's younger females .

In response to concerns that "sexualization" of girls is a problem, the American Psychological Association conducted a study that concluded that such imagery in advertising, merchandising and media is "harming girls' self-image and health development." Some call it the "prostitot" trend--girls being sexualized prematurely.

There is some cause for optimism, says Joe Kelly, 52, president of Dads & Daughters, a non-profit group promoting better lives for girls. Positive female role models for teens are "more visible than before," he said.

Oprah Winfrey, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), new Harvard University President Drew Gilpin Faust, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, astronauts Sally Ride and Mae Jemison, basketball player Sheryl Swoopes--these women are a few examples Kelly and other advocates are promoting as antidotes to bad-girl images.

"Certainly I think it's an increasing need," said Ashley Carr of the American Association of University Women, which is promoting the educational and professional achievements of historic female figures such as the group's founders, Marion Talbot and Ellen Richards, during March, which is Women's History Month.

At the University of Memphis, Leigh Anne Duck, interim director of the women's studies program, said she found hope in her students, though in "five out of five classes" they talked about Spears shaving her head.

"I'm not even sure what wave of feminism is heading where now, but it's pretty clear that there is a generation shift, a very kind of positive--not an internecine struggle--but a kind of positive energy building up," said Duck, who earned her doctorate from the University of Chicago. "They're not worried about how wide their [bra] straps should be."

Rammell is using the Miss USA pageant to urge teens to look within their families or communities for positive models. Some critics denounce the Miss USA and Miss America pageants as superficial, but many young girls and adults regard them as paradigms of womanhood that emphasize poise, speaking and achievement--some of the hallmarks of public leadership.

Saying she is familiar with Miss America's scholarship program, Carr added: "Yes, it is a beauty pageant, but even the fact that they have a long history in providing these scholarships doesn't surface."

"The most beautiful women I know are my mom and my grandma because of the lives they led," she said. "Every wrinkle on their face tells a story. It's like a poem."

Rammell, who was raised on a ranch near Yellowstone National Park, is one of three children of a veterinarian father and homemaker mother in Rexburg, Idaho. She is a biology major at Brigham Young University-Idaho, hopes to be a physician's assistant, and plans to be a role model by being socially and politically active.

"I expect to be active in all the issues that a woman of the United States deals with every day--political issues in their state and federal government, the issues of the home and the family, morals, the peer pressure of youth, the elderly, the mothers, the working women," Rammell said. "It's critical to be a citizen and to be active."

She's no stranger to controversy. Her father, Rex, was at the center of a three-state controversy last year when domesticated elk escaped from his hunting ranch. After Idaho's governor criticized the father's penned hunts and sanctioned a killing of the fleeing elk, Amanda Rammell refused to pose for a photograph as Miss Idaho USA with the state's chief executive.

Though she's a Mormon who advocates strong family values, Rammell said the pageant's swimsuit competition is "just fun. It takes a lot of guts to get out there with a string bikini and high heels.

Many experts agree that using family and community members as mentors is among the best ways to set forth positive role models, but the beauty pageant as a stage for good examples remains controversial.

The current Miss USA, Tara Conner, was criticized for tainting her title's good-girl image when it was revealed that she was an underage, alcoholic, cocaine-using party girl herself, setting off a snit between event sponsor Donald Trump and talk show host Rosie O'Donnell over who is an appropriate moral authority for young women.

Conner, 21, conceded that even role models have flaws. But she expressed hope that her experience would set a different kind of example--for other alcoholics to get help.

"Women can drink if they can be classy about it," said Miss Nevada, 21-year-old Helen Salas of Las Vegas. "If they want to be sloppy about it, it's not a good idea."

"These girls eat almost as much as I do," said Fennessy, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 365 pounds. "We don't want that modeling-with-anorexia issue."

Girls get this message repeatedly: What matters is how "hot" they look. It plays on TV and across the Internet. You hear it in song lyrics and music videos. You see it in movies, electronic games, and clothing stores. It's a powerful message.

As parents, you are powerful too. You can teach girls to value themselves for who they are, rather than how they look. You can teach boys to value girls as friends, sisters, and girlfriends, rather than as sexual objects. And you can advocate for change with manufacturers and media producers.

- Tune in and talk. Watch TV and movies with your daughters and sons. Read their magazines. Surf their Web sites. Ask questions. "Why is there so much pressure on girls to look a certain way?" . . .

- Question choices. Girls who are overly concerned about their appearance often have difficulty focusing on other things. Clothes can be part of the distraction. If your daughter wants to wear something you consider too sexy, ask what she likes about the outfit.

- Speak up. If you don't like a TV show, CD, video, pair of jeans, or doll, say why. A conversation with her will be more effective than simply saying, "No, you can't buy it or watch it." Support campaigns, companies, and products that promote positive images.

- Understand. Young people often feel pressure to watch popular TV shows, listen to music their friends like, and conform to certain styles of dress. Help your daughter make wise choices among the trendy alternatives.

- Encourage. Athletics and other extracurricular activities emphasize talents, skills, and abilities over physical appearance. Encourage your daughter to follow her interests and get involved in a sport or other activity.

- Educate. You may feel uncomfortable discussing sexuality with your kids, but it's important. Talk about when you think sex is OK as part of a healthy, intimate, mature relationship. Ask why girls often try so hard to look and act sexy.

- Be real. Help your kids focus on what's really important: what they think, feel, and value. Help them build strengths that will allow them to achieve their goals and develop into healthy adults. Remind your children that everyone's unique and that it's wrong to judge people by their appearance.

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