Squeamish Bikini
  • Home
  • Squeamish Features
  • Squeamish Reviews
  • Squeamish News
  • Squeamish Contact
  • About Squeamish

How to Diffuse the Teenage Time-Bomb 

18/3/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
Rite of passage. Image: The Integer Club
Whether we are worrying about their exam grades, looking for people the blame over their visible fertility (it's not boys apparently) or counting down the days until they are legal (it's what we defend press freedom for) teenage girls, or young women are a great concern of the media.

It's easy to see why. They've turned jumping up and down waving a sheet of paper with exam results on into an art. They continue to cope so well and, frankly, bravely with the inevitable over plucked eyebrows episode. They have proudly upheld the tradition of using plum or red hint-of-a-tint hair dye (though I fear the hardcore days of 'my mate done it with Toilet Duck, the burning's nearly stopped now' are over) come year 9. With a mere sneer – which they can now do in person, online or via Blackberry messaging – they can bring down entire nations/celebrities/fashion trends.

It's such a fleeting time that as soon as we leave it we wonder how we coped and what makes those teen girls tick. That's how much of a blur of hormones teen girl-hood is, grown women appear to self induce or feign amnesia about the whole personal era.

Teen pregnancy rates are at their lowest since the 1960s, girl's exam grades are high but we have to keep fretting about The Girl. Over the weekend The Daily Mail rebranded the teenage girl as the “The Ticking Teenage Timebomb” DUN DUN DUN. For some reason – perhaps to highlight the plight of the teen girl – this was in bold pink font: “heading for an emotional apocalypse, with figures suggesting that 43 per cent feel depressed or anxious, while 27 per cent are suffering from a full-scale mental illness.”
This accompanied the news that Helen Porter, a science teacher at an independent girls’ school had said teen girls are feeling ever increasing pressure to conform to the aesthetic of porn – due to its accessibility on the internet. This subject of a 'sexualised culture' has been raised by MPs, the media and charities for a while now. Always investigating and using the example of teen girl behaviour where they display signs of stress or buckling to pressure.

insisting we look at teen girls...is a great way to portray womankind as highly strung and over-sensitive

When there are reports coming out such as the NUS's That's What She Said – Women students' experience of 'lad culture' in higher education that contains research from the University of Sussex about how misogynist attitudes are affecting male and female students on campus you wonder if the right questions are being asked, or the right people getting the attention.

Louise McCudden's recent piece on lads and fat shaming makes an important point regarding 'lad culture': “They might be a minority but the problem is, they don’t think they are. They’re egged on by a bullying media...” Lads have a laugh, girls have a mental problem. Sort it aaaaaht girls.

It looks a lot like we are falling over ourselves to treat a symptom and not a cause. Why is this? Because we don't want to? Because insisting we look at teen girls who starve themselves, who work themselves into a frenzy to get a GCSE A* grade, who are (allegedly) sexually precocious in an unfulfilled way is a great way to portray womankind as highly strung and over-sensitive. Those poor silly girls, how can we help them toughen up? I dare say there are lots of teen girls who would yawn and ask: 'what pornified culture?'.

Addressing the cause means talking to our sons, father and brothers about their treatment of women – young and old. About their expectations. About ew their sexuality. We might end up with another Good Men Project, let's leave that stone unturned.

But we can't because otherwise we will never get a word in. And that means nor will teen girls, because for all the attention we give them looking is not listening.

Squeamish Kate
submit to reddit
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011

    Categories

    All
    Books
    Booze
    Cinematic
    Dress Up
    Educating Sue
    Educating Sue
    Friday 5
    Friday 5
    Geekery
    Gender Agender
    Gender Agender
    Glitter And Twisted
    Glitter And Twisted
    History Repeating
    History Repeating
    How To
    Just A Thought
    Just A Thought
    Let's Get Political
    Let's Get Political
    Music
    Nom Nom Nom
    Nostalgia
    Tellybox
    Why You Should Love

    RSS Feed


Squeamish Bikini

About
Contact us
Write for us

Newsletter

Picture
     Copyright © 2013