Maybe I'm a cynic. But every once in a while I see a news story and I wonder if it's for real. And so it was when I recently read on ABCNews.com a story by Sheila Marikar headlined "Some Say It's OK for Girls to Go Wild."
"Your 14-year-old daughter shows up on MySpace in a bikini. Her 13-year-old friend is wearing a miniskirt that might make Britney Spears blush. Time to panic? Not necessarily," Marikar opens. Some experts, she writes, argue that, "while young women may express their sexuality more overtly than they have in the past, for the most part, their behavior isn't cause for alarm. It's a necessary step in growing up."
(Hold on. We're not at the "unreal" part yet. Here come the quotes in the article from the experts.)
" 'There's a difference between posting a picture of yourself in virtual space, like Myspace or YouTube or Friendster, and posing in provocative clothing in public,' said John Broughton, Columbia University professor of psychology and education."
(Yeah. Sexual predators have more access to our kids in the first case.)
"Jaana Juvonen, who studies the development of middle and high school students at UCLA, said ... 'Many girls might look very differently from how they act. We should not judge them based on what they look like.' "
Well unfortunately Ms. Juvonen, I just don't think most predatory males _ OK, make that "males" _ have gotten that memo.
But the articles goes on to quote LynNell Hancock, who covers the "youth beat" at Columbia University's journalism school, to say that "by dressing provocatively, dancing seductively and posting salacious photos on social networking sites, young women are trying to accomplish a time-honored goal of adolescence: establishing their independence."
And Broughton further offered this in the article: "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." Continued... |