Scary Stats

I am reading a book called Reviving Ophelia, which is written by a therapist and is about many of the struggles girls encounter their teenage years. I highly recommend this book to parents who are raising daughters and teachers who work with adolescent or pre-teen girls. I was always a good kid growing up, always got straight A's, never had a time when I didn't get along with my parents, and never really had a tough time during my teenage years, yet when reading this book, I am becoming aware of many aspects of my experience that I never really tuned into before.

One concept that is very interesting is the author's explanation of the "authentic self" versus the "false self." She discusses how girls typically abandon their authentic selves in an effort to fit in and be accepted. She describes many factions of the "self" which include physical selves, emotional selves, thinking selves, academic selves, social selves (with regards to family & peers), and spiritual selves. All of these parts of a girl's selfhood are at risk of being changed because of messages they get from society and peers.

Another section that really caught my attention was about a study conducted in Rhode Island in the 90's. Teens were asked to respond to questions about circumstances under which a man

"has the right to have sexual intercourse with a woman without her consent."

80% said that a man has the right to use force if the couple is married

70% if the couple plan to marry

61% said that force is justified if the couple had prior sexual relations

>50% said that force is justified if the woman led the man on

31% said it was justified if he knew the woman had sex with other men or if he was so sexually stimulated he couldn't control himself, or if the woman was drunk

<50% thought that if a woman dresses seductively and walks alone at night, she is asking to be raped

"Clearly at least 80% of these teenagers didn't know that a man never has the right to force sex!"

Definitely left me with some things to think about!