I have just read an article about teen body awareness, in fact I have read many such articles in the last month. Not because I am a teen; far from it. But because my eldest daughter is. And just as I researched and obsessed about almost every stage of child development, I find myself also meticulously studying this element of child development too. However, while 'toilet training', or 'speech development' were almost abstract concepts, this creeping towards adult issues which are pertinent to the female psyche takes on a whole new dimension. I want to understand how the world is being presented to her, but why? So I can micromanage her development? So I can protect her, steer her, and guide her towards my view of a confident being? Or because I am her Mother, and I just want her to grow up to be as happy, content and fulfilled as she can be?
But I do wonder how this media fuelled generation, a youth fed a diet of confused, juxtaposed messages can ever get to the point where they feel 'worthy'. In a society where even a 'zit' - that natural phenomenon and hormone fuelled bi-product - is portrayed as a ghastly abhorrence to be fought mercilessly, where every pore, blemish, strand of hair, limb, torso is marketised and analysed. How can any young person ever develop a sense that they are quite perfectly beautiful, just as they are?
But I do wonder how this media fuelled generation, a youth fed a diet of confused, juxtaposed messages can ever get to the point where they feel 'worthy'. In a society where even a 'zit' - that natural phenomenon and hormone fuelled bi-product - is portrayed as a ghastly abhorrence to be fought mercilessly, where every pore, blemish, strand of hair, limb, torso is marketised and analysed. How can any young person ever develop a sense that they are quite perfectly beautiful, just as they are?
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