There was an article in the Jan/Feb edition of Psychology today detailing the huge 76 percent increase in suicide for girls between the ages of 10 and 14 for the year of 2004. In it the the author wrote about a clinical and developmental psychologist named Steve Hinshaw who believes that this increase is due to a combination of rising cultural and parental pressure to try and achieve unrealistic goals both academically and physically. One example of this is Gabrielle Montez, the lead female character in Disney's High School Musical, who on top of being gorgeous and a Broadway calibur dancer and singer, is getting ready to attend Stanford University as a freshman.
The question is: how do you feel about this? To what extent are these increasing pressures detrimental to the female teen psyche? What can be done to remedy this problem?
The question is: how do you feel about this? To what extent are these increasing pressures detrimental to the female teen psyche? What can be done to remedy this problem?
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/50/103.html
ReplyDeleteExpectations created by our culture are brutal. For woman and for men...
Society idolizes beautiful, thin woman which leads to an anorexic and bulimic nation. But it also looks down on men having fears and being emotional, which is why more men turn to alcohol than women...
Sadly girls are bombarded a million times a week by images of what we are supposed to look like, beautiful women on The Bachelor, For the Love of Ray J, America's Next Top Model...magazines, commercials, billboards.
Which this much exposure to the media's formula "thin & beautiful = happiness"
why wouldn't girls start to believe it?
I think Dove soap is taking a huge step that other companies need to follow. Dove commercials celebrate natural women, women with curves.
I think pressures on the teen female psyche are more physically related. The fact that Gabrielle Montez is going to Stanford isn't really well-known. I mean...society still idolizes dumb and pretty women . Paris Hilton is one example. Along with Jessica Simpson's "Do buffaloes really have wings?" commercials of the past....Even on American Idol, bikini girl (if anyone keeps up) is making it by with just looks. cause it sure ain't her voice.
America needs to start having healthy role models for girls to look up to. There's nothing wrong with wanting to look nice; however, when that becomes a number one goal in somebody's life, they should take a step back and analyze what exactly they are wanting. Women don't want to be thin or beautiful just for vanity's sake. They want to be a bombshell in order to feel loved and think that in order to be loved they must be flawless. I hate that our society has come to this point, but how can we change it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sydney that Dove has done an outstanding job on their soap ads. I fully support unedited photos. Models may be in great shape and gorgeous, but they still have flaws. It's the big-time editing jobs that make these models have unachieveable bodies. Many Americans don't realize how much editing that goes on behind the scenes, but it's astounding.