What’s Happening To Our Girls
Written my Maggie Hamilton presents the Issue that girls all over the world feel pressures at some stage of their lives. Hamilton presents this idea to the reader in a negative way in comparison to how popular culture and wider society encourages it. As girls are growing up, they feel pressures regarding their desires to be a woman, body Image and pressures from parents and teachers. Hamilton expresses these Ideas through the use of expository conventions such as interviews, facts and expert opinion.
Young girls ranging from the ages of 3-12 are becoming more and more like managers. Their clothes are getting skimpier and their desires are constantly growing. The expository text What’s happening to our girls? Presents this issue through the use of interviews expert opinion. Hamilton conveys the idea of young girls losing their childhood in a negative way to the reader through the use of her expert opinion. An example of this from the text Is “Teenage life can’t come quickly enough for most teens.
By now they’re more than ready to leave their little-girl self behind. ” (Peg. 31 ) This is explaining how girls are losing their valuable and replaceable childhood experiences that they are now missing out on due to the strong Influences that popular culture has on them. Hamilton is encouraging the parents of these young girls to not spoil their children by giving them everything they desire but to engage them within their community and to mix with a variety of people from different generations. Another convention used to convey the message is facts.
An example of this In the text is “In one study of girls aged 5-8, over a quarter of the 5-year-old-galls wished they were These facts support the idea that arils are growing up too fast and that these are the issues that adults should be worrying about, not young girls. In popular culture, these ideas are also presented, but in a deferent way. Girls are being encouraged to have the latest technology, clothes and makeup through the use of Images In magazines. Magazine companies use specific images to encourage girls to step into the world of woman hood.
An example of this is in one Bliss magazine, they published the A-Z of sex. This is handing out unnecessary information to young readers that they would never need to know at their age. Girls feel that they have to live up to these expectations that boys and their peers have of them and they will do anything to be accepted. While the majority of parents would be horrified by the way these Ideas are presented to their young girls, many parents support the idea of their little girls wearing bras, makeup and obsessing about their clothes.
In my personal opinion I believe that young girls should embrace and enjoy their worries and carefree days Like I did when I was a child. Hamilton suggests that this Is a growing concern in our society today as it encourages girls to become over sexualities. Popular culture is encouraging the over exultation’s of girls and wider society Is trying their best to stop It. 1 OFF expresses this idea through the use of conventions such as facts and interviews in a negative way to the reader. Majority of girls in modern society are very self- conscious.
Afraid of being constantly Judged, girls are relentlessly striving to keep up with the latest fashions and their desires to be thin Just so they can fit in. Many girls go to the extremes of starving themselves and purging Just to feel accepted by others. Hamilton is presenting this issue in a negative way to the reader through the SE of interviews. An example of this is in the text is “Eating disorders are really quite a common thing, but you kind of get used to it-like that’s the way it is. ” Peg. 07). This is explaining to the reader how common eating disorders are becoming and how girls don’t think much of it anymore. In popular culture the idea of beauty is extremely distorted. With the use of Photos, companies believe that they can make more money by making girls look thinner and more attractive. When girls view these warped images, they believe that these are the features they need to have to be dutiful. Examples of these features include the thigh gap, a flat stomach and collar bones.
Hamilton used the convention of facts to present this idea to the reader. An example of this in the text is “Links have now been made between the representation of thin models in magazines and eating disorders. In one study, the teenage girls who watched TV ads with skinny models were less confident and happy with their bodies than girls not exposed to these ads. ” (Peg. 103) These fact positions the reader to have a negative point of view towards magazine companies who are sending these storied messages to young girls.
In wider society, parents want to protect their young girls from bad influences that can be put on them. Majority of parents don’t know what their girls are reading in their magazines and would be horrified to know what information these girls are absorbing. In my opinion, I believe that girls need to be themselves and understand their individuality and to not constantly worry about their appearance. Hamilton suggests that poor body image is taking over our girls’ mindsets and their values they have of themselves are plummeting.
Popular culture s influencing girls to believe that they are not up to the standards of being beautiful and wider society is trying to prevent them from thinking down on themselves. Girls all over the world are feeling pressures from their parents, friends and teachers. Hamilton conveys this message to the reader in a negative way through the use of expository conventions such as interviews and expert opinion. As young girls are growing up in a modern world, their parents have high expectations of them to succeed in school and to secure a financially rewarding Job.
Along with the pressures f grades, friends and boys this leads to a lot of stress in girls lives. Hamilton expresses this idea to the reader through the use of her expert opinion. An example of this in the text is “It’s a big ask for any teenager to be perfect and popular, wear the right clothes, look cool and achieve excellent grades. There’s little opportunity here to build solid self-esteem. Is it any wonder so many are feeling depressed? “(Peg. 80). This opinion describes to the viewer the many pressures girls face in their daily lives and how it is affecting their physiological state.
Another convention used is interviews. An example of this in the text is “l don’t go out very much during the amount of pressure put on you at school to do well- and you Just get stressed out. ” (Peg. 75) This conveys the message to the reader as it explains Just how stressed out girls can be even over the little things. Popular culture also doesn’t help girls either. Maggie Hamilton explains “The pressure on girls is also apparent in teen magazines, where there’s endless editorial on what it means to be a successful woman-how to have a better body, better skin, better grades. “(Peg. ) When girls are reading these articles they are comparing themselves to the text and their self- esteem goes down as they know that they do not live up to the standards. Wider society is also a contributing factor towards girls feeling pressured. Parents who are expecting well-behaved children with good grades and teachers loading them up with homework don’t help downsize girls’ stress levels, it Just rapidly increases them. In my opinion, I believe that girls do face a lot of pressures throughout their teen years and that they need to find ways to cope and work around them.
Hamilton presents the issue of pressures in a negative way to the reader whilst popular culture and wider society are finding ways to increase the stress levels girls have today. Hamilton presents the idea of pressures widely throughout the expository text What’s hipping to our girls?. The ideas of girls growing up too fast, body image and expectations and presented within the text through the use of conventions. These conventions include the use of expert opinion, facts, statistics and interviews. Hamilton presents these ideas in a negative way to the reader and explains ways that arenas and friends can help their girls move past them.
Popular culture is a major contributor to the way girls think they should be living and also has huge influenced on their attitudes, values and behavior. A large majority of wider society wants their girls to grow up in a carefree environment where they can learn to be creative and enjoy their individuality. I believe that girls should be able to live their lives to the fullest and not worry about what others think of them. If every girl in the world accepted each other for who they were, imagine the freedom and enjoyment everyone would have.
