Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Relationship and sexuality in teens
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Relationship and sexuality in teens
Families are often broken when the communication among the parties falls through. In “The Sleepover Question” by Amy Schalet and “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, we can compare and contrast the attitude from the parents towards the young girls on sexual behavior and over all sexual relations. Although Schalet and Kincaid initially seem to disagree that it is vital for the teens to be open and trust their parents about their issues and sexual experiences, Kincaid expresses her idea and implies to her daughter that young ladies should not act like “sluts” and learn how to do domestic labor instead. Even though, both of these authors support the idea of communication among parents and their children, they have specific discussions about certain topics, …show more content…
The speaker repeats herself and states, many times, that all females should always have to behave and act like classy women and not “sluts”; here is an example, “this is how to behave in the presence of men who don’t know you very well, and this way they wont recognize immediately the slut I have warned you against becoming; be sure to watch every day, even if it with your own spit; don’t squat to play marbles – you are not a boy”(Kincaid 33). Kincaid points out specific actions that determine how a lady should act and must undergo to be “classy” in her own perfect world. Kincaid’s narrator puts female teens through a different perspective and environment where they should even be thinking of boys or men, instead, they should be learning how to sew or cook, iron and clean the house. In our generation, society plays a big role where females are subjected and labeled as “house slaves”. They are viewed as workers that must maintain the house impeccable, always have the food ready for the husband and take care of the children. The time period from “Girl” portrays how women were treated and forced to act when they were raised as oppose of young boys. Through out the story we understand that young ladies were forced to learn how do domestic duties from a very young age. An example of this is” this is how you sew on a button…this …show more content…
Author Amy Schalet ultimately brings up a delicate and sensitive topic about teens having sex, comparing the different mindsets of families in the Netherlands and in America. By Schalet carrying the interviews, she found out that teens in America are a lot more secretive with their personal lives, and would not discuss it with their parents, unlike teens from the Netherlands that eventually told their parents. While some people might say that it’s a matter of common sense, some other people might argue it has to do with culture. Catholics, for example, believe in celibacy until you have decided on the person you will marry. You are taught from young age to protect your body and mind from carnal desires and focus on other things that will benefit you on the long run. Obviously, times have changed, and not many people practice this anymore. We can see an example on shows on television about teen pregnancy, while these shows aren’t necessarily telling to go ahead and have children at young age, it might have negative impact on younger girls, almost like a unintentional role model. On the other hand, writer Jamaica Kincaid, demonstrates the In The Girl we see the other side of the coin, a mother that is so demanding and is always right, no matter the outcome, she is right, and things have to be done a certain way. I think a figure like this would not benefit
The author faces both gender and religious oppression in her home. At first, the author seems like she was a young and immature child, getting an occasional whipping every so often, that she is “used to.” This was partly due to the fact that the author did not act like what a girl should. The author states that she was
For centuries, society has placed a remarkably large emphasis on protecting the young from the many perceived errors of growing up. Effective sex education is resisted in many locations across the country in favor of somewhat comical biblical suggestions for abstinence until marriage even while the majority of those targeted teens are viewing the world as a more and more sexual place. So many views are weaving in and out of teenagers' newly formed adolescent minds that any effective argument for responsible attitudes or analysis of sexual behavior in teens should be expressed with a certain minimal degree of clarity. Unfortunately, this essential lucidity of advice is missing in the short story “Where are You Going, Where Have You Been,” in which the misguided Joyce Carol Oates creates the character of Arthur Friend as a cliché personification of the inner demon of uncontrollably budding sexuality. Instead, the murky characterization of the antagonist presents nothing more than a confused and ambiguous view of the meaning of the story.
The speaker says “this is how you smile to someone you don’t like very much; this is how you smile to someone you don’t like at all.” One must learn in steps, take the easier step first before you take on the full task. The repetition of the speaker criticizing this Girl is prone to be a slut makes the readers feel sympathy words her. If she contributes to following the rules of society, she will be a great woman. If not, this girl will be looked at as the “Woman the baker won’t let near the bread.” This life lesson from this mother is to keep society in check. Mother(society) teaches certain lessons to their daughters and sons. The stereotypical gender roles has been maintained by these hierarchical ideologies. “This is how” shows the narrator is experienced in these tasks and already knows how to fulfill them and the girl is expected to learn. Readers get a sense this mother is an experienced woman, well respected and has some sense of power. This power is shown by how assertive her claims are to her daughter and the minimal reply from Girl. Not only does this show the narrator’s power but it emphasizes the very minimal amount of power Girl has towards her mother, and hence the minimal power she has in society. The power dynamic between these characters symbolizes the power dynamics presented in society during this
The second part of the essay is call for reform from the current state of sexual ethics as it relates to the most vulnerable social group– teenagers. I conclude that current christian attempts within sexual ethics are failing teenagers and suggest ways in which my ordering of sexual ethics might prove more effective.
However, it is safe to assume it is a woman, speaking to a younger girl, possibly a daughter. The entire text reads as a how-to guide, “How to be a properly lady and not turn into the slut you are trying to become.” The first indication that the speaker is speaking to a female is the use of the word “slut,” which is a derogatory word used for women that choose to live a sexual lifestyle. The second indication that the text was meant for a girl was the number of rules that the presumably young girl was hearing, “Always eat your food in such a way that it won’t turn someone else’s stomach; on Sundays try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming.” Boys are not typically told to walk like ladies or eat their food a certain way. It sounds as if the speaker was trying to give the young girl helpful advice (because nothing is worse than being branded a slut apparently), but her rules reflect the time the text was written because most modern women do no abide by these specific rules, women have more of a choice in today’s society. However, the text also reflects gender-inequality with the use of the word “slut” and ensuring that the young girl was to be proper at all times, something modern women can understand. Women today are pigeonholed in being proper, loving, and clean; without these traits, we are merely gum on the bottom of men’s shoes, rarely seen as a
When examining the article through broader lenses, sociological imagination is used to look at the piece of writing in different ways. Although teaching kids about sex and contraceptives is con...
This paper argued that the mother in Jamaica Kincaid’s short story “Girl” is loving towards her daughter because the mother is taking time to teaching her daughter how to be a woman, and because she wants to protect her in the future from society’s judgment. Kincaid showed that the mother cared and loved her daughter. The mother wants her daughter to know how to run a home and how to keep her life in order to societies standards. Alongside practical advice, the mother instructs her daughter on how to live a fulfilling
All of the mother’s statements have a definitive nature to them. Each statement begins with “don’t”, “you mustn't”, “always”, and most often: “this is how”. This choice of phrasing on Kincaid’s end shows the mother’s experience. This knowledge has, presumably, been learned from years of a certain kind of treatment. The main concern of the mother is that the daughter will not be respected by society and will be deemed a “slut”. This is evident by the repetition of the strongly connotative word, as it appears three times throughout the brief text. Each time it is said, it escalates, almost coming across as anger. Within the first use, “...the slut I know you are so bent on becoming”, the mother is assuming that without direction, the girl will become one. It is also said right after a comment about walking “like a lady” and not like a slut. This dual sided view- that a girl is either a lady (invokes a feeling of being proper, respected), or a slut- is not the type of lesson a loving mother would teach her daughter just because. It is instead from fear that the mother so desperately wants to teach her daughter how to be a lady. One could even go as far as to say that the culture is having affect on the mother, as in each use she assumes her daughter is “bent on becoming” a slut. The noticeable burden the mother feels to enlighten her daughter shows the
America has one of the largest pregnancy rates in teens in the whole world (“Sexuality, Contraception, and the Media”). Pregnant teens have to make many hard choices. They must decided to keep the baby or not., and to continue on with school. or not. Teens moms can lose everything they’ve worked for after one bad decision. Sex is in teens lives because of media influence.
In the past, sex was something that people tried to avoid talking about it, neither less teaching. Sex became a mystery, and a mystery would always trigger people’s nerves, especially teenager’s curious minds. That leads teenager at that time, who had no idea about sex, wanted to have sex to know about it. And when they had sex without any protection, they easily got STDs or HIV or even pregnancy. The case awakens society that sex education must be taught for students at the very first when they enter middle schools. But the way sex was taught those days was very much different from today. In the article “What the sex educators teach” posted on the Opposing View Point in Context website, Dana Mack has written about her experience when taking sex education class when she was a teen: “At the age of ten or eleven, girls and boys were herded into separate rooms - usually in the company of a parent. There, in industrial-gray pictures and solemn monotones, they were introduced to the world of gametes, ovaries, and menstruation. Not exactly titillating material, this reproductive information.” (Mack). Back in those days when sex was a newly revealed topic and sex education program had just been operated, people are still very shy to talk about sex and they often avoid having this kind of
...ildren for experimenting with their sexuality; to discover who they are once they become of age, because in their rebellious phases they might decide to do this just to spite you. As research indicates and from personal experience, parents who are able to talk honestly to their kids about sex tend to be those with open family communication styles and whose parents talked with them about sex. Adolescents who feel close to their parents and who believe that their parents support them are likely to adopt sexual attitudes similar to their parents’ and to limit or delay their sexual activities. There are many things that can be learned from Randa Jarrar’s A Map of Home, and the importance of sexual awakening is just one of those themes.
Traister, Rebecca. A. "Fathers Should Not Exploit Their Daughters' Sexuality." Is Childhood Becoming Too Sexualized? Olivia Ferguson and Hayley Mitchell Haugen. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2010.
"Fathers Should Not Exploit Their Daughters' Sexuality." Is Childhood Becoming Too Sexualized. Olivia Ferguson and Hayley Mitchell Haugen. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2010. At Issue. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 24 Jan. 2011.
The purpose of this short interview is to ask an elder person, at least the age of 40 years old, about their view of sex during their time and their perspective of how the society has changed. This experiment will illustrate societal and sociological changes that have occurred. For this project, I interviewed Mrs. Ebony Jackson, a 41 years old Africa-American women. Mrs. Jackson was born in 1975 and grew up in Los Angeles, California. Her family that she grew up in consist of her two sisters, mother, grandmother, and grandfather. I asked Mrs. Jackson if her family ever talk to her about sex or sexuality and the respond I got was a 'no. ' She continued to explain to me how parents and their children are not supposed to mention anything
Even though young people are stereotyped as being more negative when it comes to the issue of gender, not all teenagers are that concerned with it. The author states more teenagers are looking at the outcome of having sex and thinking about the STD issue. Another issue is gender when it comes to parties and drugs. It seems that more and more girls are not getting the necessary understandings of the risks of sex, therefore having it at a younger age. While males are having sex for reasons just to try it out, or because they think they are cool.