States that ever since teenagers discovered sex, they have hardly
been able to think about anything else, and that has had a major effect
on the psychic life of girls. Downhill skid for their sense of
self-worth; Research by Cornell University social historian Joan Jacobs
Brumberg; Inner life has been overtaken by the quest for boys' attention
and beauty and grooming.
By
PT Staff, published on May 01, 1992
news & trends
Ever since teenagers discovered sex, they've hardly been able to
think about anything else, and that has had a major effect on the psychic
life of girls. For them, it's been one long downhill skid for their sense
of self-worth.
This anguished view of adolescence emerges from the mouths of babes
themselves, and Cornell University social historian Joan Jacobs Brumberg
has been listening to them, studying the diaries girls have written over
the last 150 years.
In bygone days, girls routinely revealed rich inner lives with talk
about spirituality, books, intellectual and creative activities, and the
pursuit of arts and games. A typical teen of 1890 confided to her diary
her dance and calisthenics activities, her elaborate plans for nature
walks to collect botany specimens--a passion she shared with her
friends--and long talks with female teachers who served as
mentors.
Today, inner life has been overtaken by the quest for boys'
attention, and with beauty and grooming. It's strictly "Joey told Suzie
that David loves Linda." No provocative ideas. No interest in creative
activities. Girls first began to cut loose in the Roaring Twenties, and
being attractive to the opposite sex has since become the top teen
interest.
Adolescent girls today are "overwhelmed with insidious feelings of
unworthiness and low self-esteem as they obsess about boys and body image
at the expense of more fruitful activities," says Brumberg, who calls it
a national tragedy, since it occurs at a time when all kinds of new
opportunities and freedoms are open to young women. Girls today wind up
tense, uneasy, and vulnerable to a variety of behavioral problems and
diseases, including eating disorders and sexually transmitted
diseases.
Not that she would even consider putting the genie back in the
bottle. She'd keep sexual liberalism but give it feminist footing, and
she'd pay the creative efforts of young women some higher compliment than
"I love your shoes."
ILLUSTRATION
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