Gender Roles and Socialization in Adolescence
From Girl to Woman:
Gender Roles and Socialization in Adolescence Reviving Ophelia: A Brief Overview Adolescence is one of the most difficult times for development. This difficulty is experienced very differently for boys and girls. This paper will examine how gender role socialization effects girls more specifically, the emergence of eating disorders and depression in adolescent girls. Mary Pipher, Ph.D. in her book "Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls", discusses extensively the varied and difficult road that adolescent girls travel to adulthood. This book is a collection of Pipher's experiences with clients, her daughter, and her own adolescence as well as a thought provoking social examination. The title refers to William Shakesphere's character Ophelia, the young girl who drowned herself in a river after being shunned by Hamlet. Ophelia is the epitome of lost female youth. The transition that happens from girl to woman is quite difficult for most. Pipher examines the loss of self that most girls experience in their adolescence. She brings up the fact that preadolescent girls have the ability to be androgynous, as well as an interest in nearly everything. Gender roles are not limiting at this age, it is their time away from the female gender role. The onset of puberty changes most girls into very confused and ever changing creatures. They go from being carefree to careful of what their every move is. Most adolescent girls are hyper aware of themselves, over analytical of the reactions they receive from others, are critical of their bodies, and they "crash and burn in a social and developmental Bermuda Triangle". The central question Pipher asks is "why are American adolescent girls falling prey to depression, eating disorders, and suicide attempts at an alarming rate?" There is no easy answer to Pipher's question. Is the problem girls face a product of our culture? Or, is the problem that adolescent girls face a natural part of
Gender Roles and Socialization in Adolescence Reviving Ophelia: A Brief Overview Adolescence is one of the most difficult times for development. This difficulty is experienced very differently for boys and girls. This paper will examine how gender role socialization effects girls more specifically, the emergence of eating disorders and depression in adolescent girls. Mary Pipher, Ph.D. in her book "Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls", discusses extensively the varied and difficult road that adolescent girls travel to adulthood. This book is a collection of Pipher's experiences with clients, her daughter, and her own adolescence as well as a thought provoking social examination. The title refers to William Shakesphere's character Ophelia, the young girl who drowned herself in a river after being shunned by Hamlet. Ophelia is the epitome of lost female youth. The transition that happens from girl to woman is quite difficult for most. Pipher examines the loss of self that most girls experience in their adolescence. She brings up the fact that preadolescent girls have the ability to be androgynous, as well as an interest in nearly everything. Gender roles are not limiting at this age, it is their time away from the female gender role. The onset of puberty changes most girls into very confused and ever changing creatures. They go from being carefree to careful of what their every move is. Most adolescent girls are hyper aware of themselves, over analytical of the reactions they receive from others, are critical of their bodies, and they "crash and burn in a social and developmental Bermuda Triangle". The central question Pipher asks is "why are American adolescent girls falling prey to depression, eating disorders, and suicide attempts at an alarming rate?" There is no easy answer to Pipher's question. Is the problem girls face a product of our culture? Or, is the problem that adolescent girls face a natural part of