Reviving Ophelia: Saving The Selves Of Adolescent Girls

Genre

Educational, Lifestyle, Parenting, Pop culture, Psychology, Relationships, Science & Nature, Self-help, Teen, Women's

Format

Paperback

Title

Reviving Ophelia

Everybody who has survived adolescence knows what a scary, tumultuous, exciting time it is. Its a mistake to use memories of our experiences to guide our understanding of what today's girls are living through. Our daughters are living in a new world. Reviving Ophelia is a call to arms from Dr. Mary Pipher, a psychologist who has worked with teens for over a decade. She finds that teen girls today have a harder time than ever before due to higher levels of violence & sexism. The current crises of adolescence - frequent suicide attempts, dropping out of school & running away from home, teen pregnancies in unprecedented numbers, & an epidemic of eating disorders - are caused by a media-saturated, lookist, girl-destroying culture. Teens are not developmentally equipped to meet the challenges that confront them. Adolescence has traditionally involved breaking away from parents, experimenting w/ adult life, & searching for autonomy & independence. Today's teenagers face serious pressures at an earlier age than that at which teenagers in the past did. Attending an unsupervised party can lead to acquaintance rape. Having a boyfriend means dealing with sexual pressures, & often leads to pregnancy and/or STD’s. Depression levels have risen. They encounter situations too complex to handle & self-esteem crumbles. It is critical that we understand the circumstances & correct them. We need to make the precious age of experimentation safe for adolescent girls.