It’s a parent’s worst nightmare coming to life when their baby girl starts going out in the tiniest clothes her allowance can buy. But some psychologists and child-development specialists believe their behavior isn’t cause for alarm but a necessary step in growing up.
Today virtual spaces, like Myspace or YouTube or Friendster, are full of pictures where teens can be found in skimpy cloths and seductive poses. And though the very thought of someone so young engaging in such overtly sexual expression may be disturbing, experts believe that the situation isn’t as bad as it looks.
Looks deceive
“There’s a difference between posting a picture of yourself in virtual space, and posing in provocative clothing in public,” said John Broughton, Columbia University professor of psychology and education.
Striking a seductive pose in front of her peers might seem impossible for a girl who might not think twice about putting up a picture of herself on the Internet in a skimpy bikini.
And it isn’t necessary that a teenager who prefers to wear sexy clothes will, as a rule, engage in sexual activity or indulge in promiscuous behavior.
Jaana Juvonen studies the development of middle and high school students at UCLA. She opines that “Many girls might look very differently from how they act.”
She suggests that teenagers have always been prone to ‘mimic the appearance of their older peers.’ The problem only appears to be more acute today because girls hit puberty earlier now than they did decades ago.
But that doesn’t mean they’re engaging in acts that ought to be beyond their years. “We should not judge them based on what they look like,’ she says.
LynNell Hancock, a Columbia University journalism professor who covers the youth beat believes that striking a sexy pose may be an extension of childhood – just like playing astronaut or princess. It allows teens to escape their everyday lives and play in a realm removed from reality.
she said:
Adults think that kids take everything literally — if [teens] pose in a bikini, they’re suddenly sexually active. It’s odd that adults who are supposed to think more conceptually are thinking so concretely.
Movers and shakers
And the popular assumption that listening to a particular genre of music or dancing in a provocative manner is an indicator of sexual activity among adolescents may also be no more than an old myth.
Professor Hancock says:
There isn’t any new problem here. Moving your hips in the suggestive way that Elvis was doing made adults think that we were hopping into bed with everything that moved. And of course that wasn’t the case — it was just another case of expressing sexuality. Every generation thinks that teenagers are going to hell in a hand basket for a variety of reasons.
According to Hancock, by dressing provocatively, dancing seductively and posting suggestive photos on social networking sites, young women are trying to establishing their independence: a time-honored goal of adolescence.
She said:
They’re breaking away from their parents and authority figures in order to become independent people. These are all just expressions of that. We like to think of children as completely innocent. So when they do things that are not age appropriate, it freaks people out.
Teenagers today wait longer to have sex
Research shows that sexual activity among teens is on the decline even though young women today may express their sexuality more overtly than they have in the past.
A study by the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit organization that researches sexual and reproductive health, found that the proportion of teenage girls who had ever had sex declined from 49 percent in 1995 to 46 percent in 2002.
However, some experts also believe that teenaged girls’ fascination with barely there mini-skirts and thong underwear, misogynistic hip hop music and trashy celebrities shouldn’t be dismissed as teenage rebellion.
Ariel Levy, author of “Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture.” believes girls who strive to appear sexy may grow into women who see sex as their only value.
Levy said of teen girls:
I think there’s an element of generational rebellion and nobody wants to turn into their mother. But the extent to which you see that can’t be dismissed as only a youthful valiance.
Talk about it
Broughton believes that parents have to start looking at how Internet forums can be valuable, even educational, for teenagers.
He said:
Putting up pictures of yourself scantily dressed on MySpace is, in a way, kind of a good sign. The good news is that it’s somebody who isn’t horrified by their appearance. Also if they get some positive response, that can be very supportive. If they were not attacked and misunderstood and panicked about, they could be respected as young people in a domain in which they’re behaving supportively and democratically.
Dismissing teenagers’ expression of sexuality as a breakdown of values and decency could prove to be a fatal mistake. Parents and school administrators should talk with teens about what it means to display sexuality suggests child development specialist Juvonen.
She says:
It’s the kind of dialogue that’s missing from our schools at the moment: Have you thought about what that kind of picture does to people? What is the likely reaction for people who see that picture? It’s about adults learning what kids do on the Internet and using that information to help us prepare them to deal with the issues they have not thought about.
And since the pill to stop an adolescent from acting like, well, an adolescent hasn’t been invented yet, you might wanna keep in mind Professor Hancock’s advice to stop fretting and keeping the lines of communication open.
Via: Rawstory
