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.H I P H O P M AT T E R Sfocusing on the mental and physical health of young girls.The bulk of this research maintained that compared to their male counter-parts teenage girls suƒer from lower self-esteem and higher levels of depression.The adolescent journey, so the theories assert, is an espe-cially treacherous period for young girls.Much of this research docu-ments how issues like body image dissatisfaction, eating disorders, depression, and suicidal thoughts had become a cruel rite of passage for many young girls on their way to young female adulthood.MaryPipher, a clinical psychologist, argues that girls are immersed in a poisonous media and social world that force them to fit into nar-rowly defined roles in order to feel accepted by society and their peers.As illuminating as much of this research has been, it speaks mostdirectly to the experiences of girls from white and middle-classhouseholds.Implicit in much of this research is the idea that black girls were either wholly resistant to or only mildly aƒected by the“beauty myths” that cause so many girls to feel “unpretty,” undesir-able, and unappreciated.While black girls may avoid some of thehealth problems that aƒect white girls—anorexia, diet pill addiction, for example—they remain vulnerable in other areas, most notably,their sexual health.The sexual world of teens has changed dramatically over the lastfifteen years.Current research shows that most young people havetheir first sexual encounter between ninth and twelfth grade.During this period young people begin to explore and develop their sexual selves.The teen sexual experience is often a topsy-turvy one marked by exhilarating highs—excitement, a sense of independence, andpleasure—and debilitating lows—insecurity, uncertainty, and re-lentless peer pressure.According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “Compared with adults, adolescents are at ahigher risk for acquiring sexually transmitted diseases; they are more222 [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]