Allan Mazur's It Sucks Being A Teenage Girl

All of these pressures and expectations placed on young women today cause many to lose self-esteem and develop eating disorder and attempt suicide. Today you hear tons of studies and information on eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia but according to Allan Mazur they were “Barely known a decade ago…now common…” (281). These types of disorders are often just looked over as normal or non-life threatening. Mazur also comments on this quote “These tragic anorexics, as well as many ‘normal’ women on extreme diet and exercise regimens, are the most recent example of a long-term phenomenon extend at least over the past century when women have striven to match the ever changing ideal of feminine beauty” (282). Also since the media places …show more content…
Because of all of the images of feminine beauty produced by the media, girls see these images and start to believe that they are huge compared to those tall, thin models. Also these girls start to develop negative body image and poor self-esteem without even realizing it. In Candis McLean’s article “It Sucks Being a Teenage Girl” she gives the comments of a psychiatrist Leora Pinhas when she says, “’It sucks being a teenage girl these days. They are expected to do 3 conflicting full-time jobs: they are supposed to be care giving and emotional as well as superwoman, and also thin and beautiful, exercising all the time. On the flip side, they are often more restricted than boys: their focus is supposed to be on the home and not interesting in sexuality until marriage, while their brothers often face no such expectation.’” (45). Pinhas also states, “and things that come with growing up are more clear cut and positively rewarded for boys becoming bigger and taller is good, while for girls all fat is bad” (45). These quotes made by both Pinhas and McLean show how girls are under more pressure than boys which leads to a much higher suicide rate in young