The critics usually like to say that Marilyn Monroe was nothing but a dumb blonde and a whore. She was also known to have abused drugs, they say.

Marilyn Monroe Verses Madonna Ciccone

Some (such as an old magazine from the 1980s I have in my collection called, I believe, "Memories") go so far as to compare Marilyn Monroe to pop singer Madonna and then refer to her as a "loser," since she was not, supposedly, as "strong," or as wealthy, a woman as is modern day female entertainers such as Madonna Ciccone.

Never mind that Marilyn never cared much for material possessions and money: she once said she didn't care about money, she just 'wanted to be wonderful.'

Monroe's goal was never to be wealthy, whereas Madonna explicitly sought material gain (she once wrote to a friend, before she became famous, that she was going to New York to seek 'fame and fortune').

Never mind that Monroe lived at a time period when sexism was far more prevelant and accepted than it is now, so that a woman back in the 1950s could never hope to achieve as much power and wealth as a man could.

It is all beside the point, then, to compare Monroe unfavorably to Madonna for things that Monroe could not be reasonably expected to have achieved, and for things that were beyond her control.

If one has a problem with Monroe's alleged 'weakness' and 'ditzy blonde' public persona, then one actually has a problem with American culture's treatement and perception of women in the 1950s. Do not blame Monroe; she was a product of her times.

As an aside, I do not like Madonna. My dislike of her began after she became more and more 'slutty,' starting with her 1985 release of the Like a Virgin music video. Before that, I did not have a big problem with her public persona.

I also abhor Madonna for basing her entire career on the modus operandi of ripping off other celebrities, particularly Marilyn Monroe, but then either denying it, or else acting angered (as she has done in various interviews) when people point out how much she copies off Monroe and others.

I am a Marilyn Monroe fan, but I have never excused or agreed with some of Marilyn's moral failings, nor will I ever. I do not believe that anyone should have sex outside of marriage or abuse drugs, as she was known to have done.

Marilyn's Drug Addiction

Yes, Monroe did have her shortcomings, true enough; but she lived and became famous during an era (the 1950s) when women were limited in their roles and career choices, and doctors, from what I have read, did not realize just how harmful and addictive some medications they prescribed could be.

This brings out an additional point on Monroe's drug problem: she was not some coke-head street whore. She sought medications from medical doctors. She did not walk the streets in a seedy part of town looking for suppliers.

Furthermore, Monroe did not abuse the drugs to 'feel good' or to 'get high' as so many actors and rock singers from the 1960s and onwards have done.

Monroe had psychological problems and insecurities borne of a very troubled, sad, and lonely childhood. Coupled with this, and as she got older and much was expected of her by the studios, she could not handle the stress. She suffered from insomnia and sought medical help.

The doctors Monroe saw would give her pills that were to help her fall asleep, and they gave her other pills for her to take in the mornings to help her become alert so that she could report to work.

People should not abuse medications, but in light of Monroe's problems, at least one can sympathize and understand what led her to become dependent upon them.

It is not as though Monroe was loopy, out of control, rebellious, or a hippie who thought it would be cool, fun, or nifty to 'experiment' with drugs.

Was Marilyn a Whore?

According to various Monroe biographies I have read that detail what life was like for young actresses in the 1940s and 1950s, most young ladies who wanted to break into show business had no choice but to exchange sexual favors for movie roles.

Hollywood back in Marilyn's day was much different from what it is now. The studios, which were, by and large, run by white males, employed the actors and actresses and held great power over them. These days, actors generally operate as 'free agents' and so are not 'owned' by any studio.

If Monroe slept around, it was to get work. It was back in the days of the "casting couch."

Compare this to someone like Madonna from the 1980s, a woman from an age when women did not have to exchange sex for work, who despite this, willingly chose to have sex with anyone who she believed could further her career.

Madonna had a choice. Madonna did not have to use her body to get ahead.

Monroe, on the other hand, did not have much of a choice. Outside of being a full time wife, mother, secretary, or school teacher, women in her day did not have many paths, and if they choose to follow a different one, they generally had to use sex with the men in power as a means of meeting career objectives.

In other words, it is more than unfair and asinine to compare someone like Monroe to someone like Madonna: it's anachronistic.

It's anachronistic and unrealistic to expect a 1950s woman (such as Monroe) to display qualities, or to make the same sort of accomplishments, we expect of women from the 1970s onward (such as Madonna).

Monroe may have been promiscuous for reasons not having to do with her career. However, I do not believe she slept around as much as some people think or say.

Monroe is considered to be the single greatest sex symbol to ever exist, so it is no surprise that so many men claim that they slept with her. I regard most of them as being lying braggarts.

At the very least, Monroe kept her sexual life private and did not force it on the public, unlike celebrities such as Madonna, who openly flaunts it.

Further, Monroe's brand of public sexuality was mostly mild and tasteful, unlike Madonna's and that of Monroe's 1950s clone, Jayne Mansfield.

Monroe did show streaks of what we think of as characteristsics of a contemporary woman: during her "hey day," that is, the mid 1950s, she left Hollywood, tired of the studio moguls mistreating her and underpaying her, headed for New York, and created her own production company.

Marilyn's Intelligence Quotient: Wasn't She a Dummy?

While Marilyn was not a Rhodes Scholar, she was by no means the air headed, vapid idiot some people either assume she must have been or like to portary her as.

Marilyn did take a literature course at a college in California. She loved to read and learn. She seems to have regretted not receiving much of an education beyond high school.

Monroe enjoyed talking to noted authors and intellectuals of her time. She listed Abraham Lincoln and Albert Einstein as people she admired. She enjoyed art; if I recall correctly, one of her favorite artists was Goya.

These factors, as well as an indication of wanting to learn and enjoying education, are hardly marks of a vapid, brainless idiot.

CONCLUSION

Marilyn Monroe was not perfect, nor was she an absolute angel at all times; I do not know of any sane, rational Monroe fans, such as myself, who would claim otherwise.

On the other hand, too much has been made out of her problems, whether it was her lack of formal education, substance abuse, or whatever else.

People who take issue with Monroe sometimes do so unfairly, in that they either exaggerate her flaws or else they do not consider why she did some of the things she did.

Marilyn was not wholly angelic intellectual or wholly brainless slut. The truth is that she was some where in between those points. What it comes down to is that Monroe did have her good characteristics, which the critics sometimes unjustly refuse to concede in their rush to condemn her.