Abolishing the teenage girl stereotype

Is the stereotype of teenage girls precise and accurate? On May 10^th, 2001 an article called Inside the Dangerously Empty Lives of Teenage Girls, written by Dr. Leonard Sax, was published. Dr. Sax, a PhD psychologist and a medical doctor, who has published two previous books concerning the effects on gender differences on learning, lives in Pennsylvania with his wife and daughter. The article’s primary focus is on the lives of teenage girls and the physical, emotional and aesthetical pressure they face throughout their lives.

            The crucial information pertaining to the exponential increase of teenage girls drinking habits is accurate which makes it very troubling. Dr. Sax compares  teenage boys, whose “use of alcohol has been pretty flat for decades”, to teenage girls drinking rate which  has been on the rise due anxiety. He argues that because girls are always worried about their physical attributes and obsessions over trivial ideas like sex, they use “alcohol [to relieve] anxiety”, at least while they are drinking. This is very true especially because of the expectation that has been set for girls in this age; females on magazine covers portray the perfect life, perfect skin, perfect hair and perfect body, and teenage girl nowadays are looking for a way to attain that particular physique. Constant thoughts by the teenage girls make them anxious and the best way to minimize that, at least for a temporary time, is to drink.

            In comparison, he analyzes the anxiety rate between teenage boys and girls. He disputes the fact that in relation to teenage girls, teenage boys are not extremely anxious. Dr. Sax shared his experiences with teenage girls who complain about “waking up at two in the morning upset about a pizza she ate for supper”, who (teenage girls) constantly believes in the notion that they are fat whereas they are not. He notes that in comparison to boys, who sleep in late, “eats a whole pizza for supper and doesn’t bat an eye….. and is perfectly content with his online games and pornography”, the anxiety rate of girls is much higher. Nowadays, girls are conscious about their weight and how they dress but the percentages of girls that actually have sleepless nights are low. In addition, teenage boys may possess the same problem that teenage girls have, but in a whole different context. They may wake up in the night because they are constantly bullied and ostracized or some be worried about being too fat.

            In contrast, he believed that about “36 percent “of girls “in the past year cut themselves with razors or burned themselves with matches”, because they being socially acceptable in school. He also said that successful girls, compared to successful boys do this “because they haven’t been living, they’ve been performing”. This is not entirely true because most girls that are successful are content with their lives and do not make an attempt to harm themselves. Girls who harm themselves choose to do that and are not forced to. In addition discussions on “what psychologist used to call middle childhood: eight to 12 years of age”, is discussed by Dr. Sax. Today, “there is no longer any distinction” between girls who are seventeen or girls who are twelve years of age. They all wear the same shirts saying “yes, but not with you” and the same skimpy shorts. This just shows that girls are losing their childhood and developing of sense of “whether they’re hot”.

            The article by Dr. Sax is a mixture of truths and personal beliefs and should not be entirely taken as a fact. But, some of his opinions regarding the rate of female alcoholics, pre-teen girls losing their childhood and the rise of anxiety in the female population, should be seriously taken in consideration. The article should undergo a review to establish a proper image pertaining to teenage girls.