Image: Mariam Malik
It is Harder to be an Adolescent Girl than an Adolescent Boy
Nevaeh Garrett
It is an ongoing debate on who has to struggle more in society, men or women. Many people would lean towards the women’s favor of the debate while others would turn to the men's. Truly, it depends on what you confront as a human being and where research is done. Where someone decides to find their sources will truly define the information they are receiving. But from a woman and a feminist perspective, women do have it worse than men, even in their adolescent years.
Firstly, one of the most obvious things to mention is pregnancy and periods. Women usually get their period at around 13 years old, but it is not uncommon to get it even before that. Period pain was said by a professor from the University College London, John Guillebaud, that it can often reach pain as severe as a heart attack. It is not uncommon for period cramps to reach even worse pains than just a heart attack. Having pains while in school, work, or even just doing at-home chores can cause an extreme amount of suffering and turmoil for the average adolescent. Some people may mention that women can just take medicine like birth control, Midol, ibuprofen, etc. However, those medicines don’t always end up as effective as they are said to be. Women’s Dysmenorrhea is often ignored by doctors, school nurses, and even family members.
Women and even young girls are subjected to sexual harassment daily. Unfortunately, our society has begun to accept it. When a man sees a girl walking down the street and thinks she’s attractive, he will catcall her, and no one will say anything. No one will speak up because people have become used to the idea that women are seen as objects and they’re used to it so it is fine. People will say that it is a compliment to be catcalled because that means you're pretty but are those people considering the effect it has on the young girls, the teenagers, the women, that feel like some object for men to continuously objectify. Catcalling can be incredibly frightening to a woman walking down the street alone because she has no idea what those men may do, she doesn’t know if anyone will step up to help her if something goes wrong. A study in 2017, showed that 1 in every 4 women have experienced sexual harassment at least once in the workplace. (Gaille, 2017)
The impossible beauty standards held for women. Women are expected to have big lips, a small waist, a big chest, a bigger behind (not too big or you’re fake.), a flat stomach, long hair, slender arms, and perfect skin. Small girls are raised thinking they aren’t pretty enough, that they are not enough. As soon as a woman is pretty, she’s considered unintelligent, but if a girl is not pretty and intelligent, her smarts aren’t enough. If a woman is decently pretty, she doesn’t have the right to be insecure. No matter what a young girl does she is always in the wrong somewhere according to the public eye. Girls struggle an unworldly amount with being a perfect image, to always have to be the most beautiful girl in the room. The pressure that women must experience continuously in regards to their looks is unfair to them.
Adolescent females struggle more than adolescent males. They have to struggle with pregnancy and periods, harassment, and the beauty standards structured to them. To grow up as a young female and have to deal with so many indescribable things and pressures, shows evidence that young girls do struggle more than males.
Works Cited
Driver, G. (2018, July 12). Doctors have finally ruled menstrual cramps as painful as heart attacks. Retrieved February 11, 2021, from https://www.elle.com/uk/life-and-culture/articles/a41956/doctors-rule-menstrual-cramps-as-painful-as-heart-attacks/
Gaille, B. (2017, May 22). 23 statistics on sexual harassment in the workplace. Retrieved February 17, 2021, from https://brandongaille.com/23-statistics-on-sexual-harassment-the-workplace/
Flores, J. (2014, May 30). 10 reasons why it's harder being a girl than being a guy (from a Guy's perspective). Retrieved February 17, 2021, from https://thoughtcatalog.com/jayson-flores/2014/05/10-reasons-why-its-harder-being-a-girl-than-being-a-guy-from-a-guys-perspective/
Written by Nevaeh Garrett
Edited by Zane Johnson