Jezebel
i thee dread
Posts Tagged “
Kids Today
”
Tweenage Wasteland
Girl Guides (the UK name of Girl Scouts) has released a report called A Generation Under Stress. The study was complied from an online survey of 350 girls and eight focus groups, and some of the results are startling: Many of the 10-14 year olds think that self-harm (cutting) is "normal" behavior for teenagers; 42% know someone who's harmed themselves. 32% know someone with an eating disorder, 50% know someone who suffers from depression, and 40% of the girls say they feel worse about themselves after looking at pictures of glamorous models, pop stars or actresses. (One said: "When I was eleven I read a teen magazine for the first time and that is when it kind of clicked — 'I should be like this.'") 74 % of the girls feel "worried," and 19% have negative thoughts about themselves. The question to consider: What kind of adults do stressed-out, self-harming children become? [Guardian, Daily Mail, Telegraph, BBC]
i thee dread
I'm Sorry Officer, It's Just That All The 23-Year-Olds Are Getting Botox These Days…
The most disturbing fact about Kellie Thomas, the Florida woman who pulled a so-called "dine and dash" on a $1225 Botox bill last week? The kid was born in 1984 — incidentally, September 11, 1984 — meaning: 1. She was, true to her generation, sufficiently oblivious to the news as to not know she was the target of a manhunt and mostly concerned that her boyfriend would find out. 2. A little young to even think about wanting Botox, yes? Virgos are perfectionists, but shit. Check the "Before/After" shots that led to her arrest by clicking the pic. [TheSmokingGun]
kids today
I Saw A Crazy: 'Nanny' Policing Goes Off Rails
I did my weekly scan of "I Saw Your Nanny" this morning. For those unfamiliar with this three-car-pileup phenomenon, it's a site on which people post sightings of "bad nannies." As one might imagine, the snobbery, entitlement, ugliness and paranoia run rampant. But there's also just an element of "wtf?" that makes it impossible to look away. In these covos, there will be, like, five different conversations going on, none of which makes any sense. Take a recent post, "Nudity Crackdown. Starts off pretty standard: a mother complains that her nanny brought her little girl home in wet clothing rather than changing her in public because "the park department is cracking down on naked children at the park because of pedophiles hanging around and perverts standing around taking pictures? Has anyone heard of this? I was at Diana Ross Park on Saturday, (5/24) and there was water to be played in. Many kids were playing in it. Most had clothing on but 2 or 3 were absolutely naked. I thought this was a bit weird given that it was the weekend and there were fathers a plenty hanging out with their children." More »
tweenage wasteland
Beyoncé's Mini-Me Ad: Damaging To Girls' Mental Health?
Did you see the new ad for Beyoncé's Deréon Girls Collection? Little girls, for lack of a better phrase, "tarted up" in adult-ish cropped and embellished jean jackets, purses, lip gloss and blush. Oh, yeah, and that one kid is wearing heels. They appear to be adult sized heels that she is just trying on, as kids do, but... Sigh. According to a report (issued last year) by the American Psychological Association, sexualized images of girls and young women in advertising, merchandising, and media is harmful to girls' self-image and healthy development. You're thinking: Duh. And yet. It exists. And persists. Eileen L. Zurbriggen, PhD, chair of the APA Task Force says, "The consequences of the sexualization of girls in media today are very real... We have ample evidence to conclude that sexualization has negative effects in a variety of domains, including cognitive functioning, physical and mental health, and healthy sexual development." Eh, people are just making a big deal out of a photo. Right? Consider this: More »
Mean Girls
At a Catholic school in Brisbane, Australia, girls in their junior year have formed a clique called "Club 21." Members wear their ranking, from 1 to 21, on their wrists. The skinnier and prettier the girl, the higher the rank. And "ugly girls need not apply." News of Club 21 has hit newspapers and morning TV in Australia and the school principal said the students are "devastated" by the media attention. Counseling has been offered."In some ways it could be considered a storm in a teacup, but it really depends if they're using the information to genuinely make peoples' lives a living hell," says Dr. Angela Dwyer, a lecturer in law, crime and sociology. Anyone who has been a teenager knows life can be hell without evil cliques, so just imagine. [Brisbane Times]
kids today
Is Gossip Girl The Best Show Ever? It Could Be, If They'd Let It
The new issue of New York magazine has an excellent, in-depth, exhaustive story about the TV phenomenon known as Gossip Girl. Jessica Pressler & Chris Rovzar pronounce the show "genius," and they have their reasons. From Helen of Troy to Sixteen Candles to My So-Called Life and Beverly Hills, 90210, teen drama has always been a genre that thrives. But, explain Pressler and Rovzar, although GG has archetypal characters, the way the story is presented is thoroughly modern. The show is about a blog; it's almost more popular to stream episodes online than it is to watch them on TV; the characters wield camera phones; the parents are as screwed up as the kids (one dad is on coke) and there are absolutely no consequences for anyone's actions. More »
kids today
Just Because You Can Buy Your Child A $21K Jungle Gym Doesn't Mean You Should
CNN reports that New Yorker Stephanie Kaster threw her daughter a birthday party recently. The celebration was held at a fondue restaurant and Kaster hired a musical troupe to perform as the Wiggles. There was a four-layer cake and each guest took home a Fisher-Price guitar and a custom CD. The party's price tag? $5,000. Stephanie's daughter was turning 3. The Coach-themed cake pictured at left was created for a 10-year-old's birthday party. Price? $1,500. Meanwhile, there's the appealing/appalling MTV show My Super Sweet 16 and that $10 million bat mitzvah on Long Island. Oh, and magazines like Baby Couture. More »
kids today
How Many Kids Have To Die Before Bullying Is Taken Seriously?
From the Megan Meier case to the cheerleader beatdown, it seems like bullying has gotten out of control. A new report out of Japan reveals that there are over 38,000 unofficial middle and high school web sites not overseen by the schools and half contain hateful messages. 40% have sexual slang and 25% display violent words like "drop dead" and "i'll kill you." It's just talk, right? They're just kids! You said — and heard worse things when you were their age. But consider the 18-year-old boy whose classmates posted a nude photo of him on one of these unofficial school sites. To add insult to injury, they sent him e-mails demanding money — blackmailing him. The teen dealt with the problem by leaping to his death at school. More »
maghag
Parenting Author, Childless Woman Weigh In On Baby Couture
Behold Baby Couture, the snotty new magazine with the slogan, "We put the 'coo' in couture." Poor, poor rich mommies! They've always wanted a publication they can call their own, that's filled with overpriced items perfect for pampering their spawn — and clearly not for mere commoners who shop at Babies R Us. Baby Couture delivers. I've got no kids of my own, so I asked Pamela Paul, mother-of-two and author of the new book Parenting, Inc.: How We Are Sold on $800 Strollers, Fetal Education, Baby Sign Language, Sleeping Coaches, Toddler Couture, and Diaper Wipe Warmers — and What It Means for Our Children for some insight. After the jump, Pamela and I give gut-reaction impressions to pages of the magazine. More »
Child's Play
The AP is reporting that the waiting time for Americans to adopt a child from China is now triple what it was years ago. "Unfortunately we've had families who have decided to withdraw from the process," says Great Wall Adoptions' Leigh Ann Graf. Sadly, the wait is much shorter if parents agree to adopt a child with a physical handicap such as a cleft palate or congenital heart disease. Meanwhile, in a story in the Telegraph, psychologists warn that "Madonna-style" adoptions — from another country — are creating more orphans. Says professor Kevin Browne of the University of Liverpool: "We found that parents in poor countries are now giving up their children in the belief that they will have a 'better life in the west' with a more wealthy family." [AP, Telegraph]
girl-on-girl crime
The Meanest Girls At School Are Often The Most Popular
A recent story out of Florida concerns six teenage girls — cheerleaders — who lured a former friend to a home where they beat her for 30 minutes while videotaping the entire act. They wanted to post the footage on YouTube and MySpace; according to the local news outlet in Orlando, a girl's voice can be heard on the tape saying: "There's only 17 seconds left; make it good." The victim in the attack suffered a concussion, loss of hearing in one ear, damage to her left eye and numerous bruises. And the footage being aired on news outlets is what happened after she was knocked unconscious. But guess what? The girls who participated in the attack probably have more friends than ever. Because new research shows that "Mean Girls" are the most popular girls in school. More »
class actions
Can A Second-Grader Be A "Sexual Harasser"?
Randy Castro is seven years old, and is on record at his Woodbridge, Virginia elementary school as being a sexual harasser. According to the Washington Post, last year, when Randy was 6, he smacked a female classmate on the bottom during recess. The girl told the teacher and Randy was sent to the principal. Ted Feinberg, assistant director of the National Association of School Psychologists, says that to label somebody a sexual harasser at 6 "doesn't make sense to me." In March, two Colorado 5-year-olds were "investigated" for sexual harassment because they were caught kissing at school. And the Post reports that last year, the Virginia Department of Education suspended 255 elementary school students for offensive sexual touching. (In Maryland, 166 elementary school children were suspended for sexual harassment — including three preschoolers.) And sometimes the cops are involved. More »
kids today
How Many 8-Year-Olds Have To Get Bikini Waxes Before We All Agree The Terrorists Have Won?
In the first thousand words of a story I just read:1. An eight-year-old receives a bikini wax.
2. A ten-year-old gets microdermabrasion.
3. Numerous children under ten get highlights.
Funny you should ask! This is not dystopian work of satirical science fiction. (Though there is a stylist who finds himself in a sort of Guy Montag type of role when a woman asks him to relax her 12-year-old's "beautiful, wavy hair.") (He now "hawks an all-natural product to moms who want to lighten their five-year-olds' locks; applied daily, it brings out subtle highlights.") No, this is a story in Philadelphia magazine, a place I used to work in a city I used to live, a city that always seemed disarmingly normal and unmaterialistic relative to my current place of business. So reading it was kind of personal for me, especially since I know its writer, Carrie Denny, and I have to say, it was weird reading sentiments of such earnest dismay as "Without the ugly years, when do you learn to accept yourself?" coming from her.
More »
One in four teenage girls has an STD! And the rate isn't much lower for teenage girls who haven't had sex, since...um...not all sexually-transmitted diseases are sexually-transmitted? The math is still sorta fuzzy to us, but one thing is not! It's SINEWY BLACK THUGS who are infecting these virginal young virgins. Or anyway, this is the stock photo CNN used to illustrate this alarming new trend story. [CNN]
Toy Story
The CEO of Lego claims the building block company has trouble conquering the chicks. "We'll never stop trying," Jorgen V. Knudstorp says. "I think there is something that genetically skews us towards boys, but we can do better." The company will launch an online Lego Universe next year, hoping to appeal to children who spend more time online and less time playing with basic toys these days. But, Knudstorp claims, "There is something about the idea of constructing and deconstructing or destroying which frankly is an important part of Lego play that is a very boys-type of activity." Having a girlhood that involved plenty of Lego, this writer begs to differ. And guess what? It wasn't pink. Anyone else? [Reuters]
The CEO of Lego claims the building block company has trouble conquering the chicks. "We'll never stop trying," Jorgen V. Knudstorp says. "I think there is something that genetically skews us towards boys, but we can do better." The company will launch an online Lego Universe next year, hoping to appeal to children who spend more time online and less time playing with basic toys these days. But, Knudstorp claims, "There is something about the idea of constructing and deconstructing or destroying which frankly is an important part of Lego play that is a very boys-type of activity." Having a girlhood that involved plenty of Lego, this writer begs to differ. And guess what? It wasn't pink. Anyone else? [Reuters]
Annals Of Anorexia
Bad news: The numbers of children with food and body image issues are on the rise, reports Fox News. 68% of elementary school teachers are concerned about eating disorders in their classes. 80% of preeteen girls are dieting. Those who diet are 8 times as likely to develop an eating disorder. 81% of ten year olds are afraid of becoming fat and over 50% of nine and ten year olds say they feel better when dieting. A treatment facility for women suffering from anorexia and bulimia opened a branch for girls under 13 two years ago and is seeing patients as young as seven years old. There's a lot of talk about the obesity epidemic in this country, but clearly there's also something else going on. [Fox News, 5 Resolutions]
Bad news: The numbers of children with food and body image issues are on the rise, reports Fox News. 68% of elementary school teachers are concerned about eating disorders in their classes. 80% of preeteen girls are dieting. Those who diet are 8 times as likely to develop an eating disorder. 81% of ten year olds are afraid of becoming fat and over 50% of nine and ten year olds say they feel better when dieting. A treatment facility for women suffering from anorexia and bulimia opened a branch for girls under 13 two years ago and is seeing patients as young as seven years old. There's a lot of talk about the obesity epidemic in this country, but clearly there's also something else going on. [Fox News, 5 Resolutions]
news roundup
Don't You Wish The Government Could Be More Like A Buddy Movie?
- "I wish they could run together...they'd be like one of those old 1970s cop shows. The crusty old seen-it-all guy who goes by his gut, partnered with the brilliant rookie who's got courage to match his brains." That's an undecided voter, in a piece on the "dude vote." [Salon]
- Didn't think there was a blog post dedicated to likening potential Obama running mates to the white halves of cherished buddy movies? Think again! [Delicious Ghost]
- The massive power outage in Florida today was not, somehow, the work of radical Islamic terrormongers! [Miami Herald]
- Hillary Clinton, who is still running, defended a man accused of raping a 12-year-old girl in the seventies and may have made some shit up about how the girl was prone to fantasize and seek out older men that turned out not to be true. [Andrew Sullivan]
- The Pakistani election: bad for Uncle Pervy, but good for transgendered dancers. No, truly! [WSJ]
