The Supergirl Syndrome (The Nation)

[marmar]

article | posted May 1, 2007 (web only)
The Supergirl Syndrome

Lakshmi Chaudhry


Meet the supergirl. She is at the top of her class, kicks ass on the soccer field and the debate team, plays a mean violin and is the life of every party. Everyone loves her: mom, dad, the coach, teachers, the boys at school and, of course, the media. The supergirl is the embodiment of the "go-girl" feminism that has become the staple of mainstream coverage, the focus of feel-good stories about female empowerment. Everything a boy can do, this gal can do and more...and maybe even better.

But as it turns out, all this adulation doesn't seem to be making the girls themselves very happy. Sure, the "amazing" students like Colby Kennedy featured in an April 1 New York Times article ("a great student, a classical pianist, fluent in Spanish, and a three-season varsity runner and track captain") may claim to be "living up to my own expectations," but the supergirl ideal is not quite so liberating for most young women.

"It sucks. Lots of pressure is put on girls to be pretty in the world's eyes, and still get good grades, and be popular, and have an awesome job, and do extra-curricular activities, and spend loads of time with their families at the same time," says one twelfth-grade girl. A fourth grader couldn't agree more: " lot of pressure to be athletic, pretty, and skinny plus smart."

These comments sum up the findings of a 2006 nationwide study of school-age children conducted by Girls Inc., which found that 74 percent of girls in high school, 56 percent in middle school and an astounding 46 percent in grades three through five say they "often feel stressed." The numbers for those who "often feel sad and unhappy" are 42 percent, 32 percent and 23 percent, respectively.

The underlying cause for all this misery is summed up succinctly by a sixth grader: "I feel girls are even more pressured than boys because we have to 'make' something of ourselves, whereas for boys it's natural to become ." So no wonder middle school girls are just as worried about achievement (73 percent) as appearance (74 percent). These fears only get worse in high school, but the average elementary school kid is already well on the way to supergirl neuroses: 59 percent are worried about getting good grades; 54 percent are concerned about their appearance. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070514/chaudhry

[Nederland]

1. Whatever the root cause

I'm sure that men are to blame. :eyes:

[DavidDvorkin]

2. Obviously

Men rule the earth, you know. And aren't under any pressures.

The article eads like bullshit whining to me.

[Bombtrack]

3. where can I find more non-story bullshit catharsis pieces from Lakshmi Chaudhry ?

I'm just dying for it.

[DawnIsis]

4. Both men and women have pressure I only know about the female perspective

but I think our society, all of us, basically live in a pressure cooker. Everything is about success measured through money (& looks). I don't think one sex has it harder than the other I just think the pressures are different for obvious reasons.

It can't be easy to be a kid nowadays with all the no-child left behind tests, sports, the over sexualized pressure on appearance, etc. BUT I realize that this "appearance focused society" pressures the boys too. It must be awful to be a pimple faced awkward young man unable to get the "hot" girl society tells them is their own personal path to happiness.

Basically our values are screwed up.