on the subjection and opression of women in areas including school, the media, and religion.
Peers
In the midst of junior high, many girls rely heavily on the opinions of other to make decisions on dress and action. In order to have approval, girls reduce themselves. Mary Pipher, Ph.D. and author of Reviving Ophelia, Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls, a New York Times bestseller, states that in junior high, girls feel enormous pressure to be popular, and they learn that good grades can evedn interfere with popularity. . .a 7th grader who was failing everything said, "My friends and I decided that making good grades wasn't cool." What will girls do when they feel that to be cool, they have to steal or cheat? If the desire to fit in takes over a girl's life, what's left for them to believe in when such things as morals are attacked? Why is this desire so strong? It could be that most girls have a desire to please everyone--this comes from girls needing approval. In most cases, the only approval they get from society, their parents, boys and other girls is for their looks or their "nice" behavior, so that is all they focus on.
Role Models
The lack of role models for girls has never been a surprise to
anyone, though its just one more blow against us. Granted, with the
admission that women were being treated unfairly since God created Eve,
there isn't a lot that can be done about the lack of women in our history
books. However, what little information about the contributions of women
in history is known, the amount included in the curricula of children of
both sexes is pathetically minimal. Mary Pipher agrees with me:
Girls come of age in a misogynistic culture in which men have most
political and economic power. Girls read a history of Western civilization
which is essentially a record of men's lives.
Women barely influenced history in the United States until the 19th century
when Susan B. Anthony and her friends who I am outraged that I was never
taught their names started to fight for women's right to vote. It was only
in this century that women were granted to right to own property in their
own names. Before that, women were actually considered the property of
their husbands or fathers. Full suffrage wasn't granted to women in all 50
states until 1920, a mere 77 years ago. What does that tell you?
Media
What girls see around them in television, magazines, movies, books,
newspapers and basic culture is a bunch of mixed messages. For example in
magazines made for girls such as YM, Seventeen, and Sassy, there are
superthin models that are inhumanely beautifullly airbrushed. Yet we are
expected to separate reality from the fantasy of such perfection. How can
we not compare ourselves to these images?
Mary Pipher writes that
Girls struggle with mixed messages: Be beautiful but beauty is only skin
deep. Be sexy, but not sexual. Be honest, but don't hurt anyone's
feelings. Be independent, but be nice. Be smart, but not so smart that
you threaten boys.
How are we supposed to understand these distinctions?
Furthermore, the role of women in society is unclear. We are faced
with the blatancy of women being viewed as nothing more than sex objects
for men by many media. On the cover of YM for April 1997 is Gwen Stefani,
a lead singer in a very popular band. She appears much younger than her 28
years, with barrettes in her hair and a coy expression. On the cover of
Details magazine for men for the same month is also Gwen Stefani, wearing
half as much clothing and photographed to seem sexually inviting. Although
YM is for girls and Details is a men's magazine, an analysis of the the
portrayal of the same person shows the indecency of the way she is changed
to fit the audience. Is that all she's worth to men, the sex appeal she
contains? In the articles about her, the same themes are followed.
Although she is the same person, her different qualities are magnified to
the general tastes of the assumed readers. The portrayal of her as very
sexy in the men's magazine reinforces their stereotypic value that women
are good for nothing but sex. The portrayal of her in the girls' magazine
reinforces the stereotypic value that women are good for nothing but sex
and must be submissive, nice and well-behaved as well.
The messages that girls receive from their teen magazines are that
they should be thin, pretty, and that their main goal in life is to attract
boys. It isn't possible for everyone to achieve the ideal of weighing so
little to be "attractive". Did you know that "eating disorders affect more
than 7 million girls and women," according to Jill Zimmerman, a writer for
Mothering magazine. It doesn't only come from peers and the media, in a
1994 Glamour survey of 4,000 young women, only 19% had mothers who liked
their own bodies, although it can be assumed that a lot of ideals come from
places other than the home. Mary Pipher says that "Most girls scorn their
true bodies and work for false bodies. They allow the culture to define
who they should be." They will go to any limit in order to gain acceptance
or to feel beautiful. This is instilled in them by what they see and hear
in the world of television and fashion and movies. The most beautiful
people in the world are all put on pedestals for us to compare ourselves
to, to set ideals upon, and to worship. Mary Pipher says that "in the last
2 decades, we have developed a natural cult of thinness." It is as if the
phrase "happy and fat" is an absolute oxymoron.
The Future
Imagine that all of these things I've mentioned are continually
ignored. All of these confused teenage girls will be the women raising the
next generation, and laying down what life will be like for the future. Do
you think everyone can afford psychotherapy to get rid of these myths and
misconceptions to live a happy, healthy life for their children's sake?
Many of the issues I've raised can be easily overlooked. Although the
worse things get, typically the more likely the will be noticed, how long
before the world recognizes that something must be done? By the time it
will overwhelm all of us? All of these factors make it nearly impossible
for a girl in the 90's to grow up healthy and happy, and the madness forced
onto us is bringing us all down. Girls are oppressed because of the
culture we are forced to grow up in.