Girls Are Catching Up to the Boys

“Catching up to the Boys, in the Good and the Bad”

Over a long period of time, society has set guidelines and expectations for each individual; both males and females. Up until this point, if a crime has been committed, the majority of people assume that a male is the culprit. Likewise, if there was a nameless paper with an “A” on the top of it, a girl is likely to be the owner of the test/quiz. In the present, 2009, girls are (like the title of the article says) catching up to the boys. “Teenage girls now equal or outpace teenage boys in alcohol consumption, drug use and smoking” as shown by surveys (Aratani, page 1). The fact of the matter is, society is “taking the shackles” (Garbarino, page 1) off of girls and exposing them to the positive and negative aspects of everyday life. Teenage girls now equal or outdo teenage boys in alcohol consumption and drug use and consumption according to national surveys (Aratani, page 1). Experts feel that females feel “empowered” when they consume alcohol or take part in drug use. In combination with this sense of power and a teenager’s natural feeling of invincibility, many problems can occur. An 18-year-old female from Bethesda said that “girls are just as bad as boys are, we do what we want to do when we want to do it.” Although there is no true reason for more teenage girls are experimenting with drugs or getting into fights, experts contribute it to the fact that the gap between genders is closing rapidly. Deborah Prothrow-Stith, a professor at Harvard University, stated that since society is offering the same opportunities to both girls and boys, they’re [girls] exposed to both the positive and negative aspects of society. Another contributing factor to “girls catching up to the boys” is stress. A clinical psychologist in Fairfax County, Beverly Parker-Lewis, explains “kids are looking for something when they feel stressed. Sometimes, the result is negative behavior.” Both academic and peer pressure contribute to female teenagers getting involved with drugs and alcohol. Christine Whitaker, a therapist from Bethesda feels that girls “work so hard to prove themselves all the time. Then, when the weekends come, they blow it all out.” Between drugs and alcohol and reckless driving habits, there is no doubt that society has opened the doors for girls to eliminate their stereotypes created in society.
Over time, females’ role in society has changed dramatically. Groups of people who have been restricted by society (African-Americans, Hispanics, women, etc) in the past have all “caught up” in the future. I feel that technology is the main reason for the transformation of women as a whole. Women are supposed to take care of the family, cook, and clean; at least that’s what people used to think. Nowadays, the boundaries for women are endless; presidential candidate, star athletes, movie stars, singers, and the list goes on and on. From cell phones to facebook and myspace, everyone has equal access to anything and everything that is present in society. Like Russia during the World Wars in the early 20th Century, there are still people who view women no differently than they were viewed for the last 200 years. Although this sounds wrong and horrible, it may not be too bad of a thing. Lori Aratani discusses the negative transformations that women/young ladies have unfortunately gone through. Starting at young ages (13-18), the negative influences and pressure presented by society has caught up with females. “Oh I know I’m going to drink this weekend,” said a teenage girl from Silver Spring. A lot of girls feel that drinking vodka or smoking weed is a necessity for every weekend in order to have fun. In my eyes, I almost feel that they, the younger generation of females, are trying to catch up (as the article’s title refers to) to males. Girls, or anyone else who is reading this, please don’t freak out. I am not being “mean” to the female population. I just feel that after years and years of being essentially denied the privileges that males have had since the beginning of time, it is natural for negative results to occur. Yes, more high school and college girls will drink and experiment with drugs. In the past drinking and drug usage has been affiliated with males. That is not the case at all anymore. Unfortunately for women, when there are positive changes, there will also be negative ones. Trying to think of a comparison to this societal transformation was not easy but I think this one makes sense: If you keep an animal (don’t worry girls I’m not calling you animals) for an extended period of time and then gradually release the animal back into the wild, what do you think they will do? Obviously, they will run free and try to make up for lost time. This is what has happened with females. This article highlights how teenage girls are essentially becoming similar to, concerning drinking, drugs, and driving, the boys. Although I do agree with this idea I feel that the positive growth of women in society has led to the minor setbacks. The gradual process of women receiving more opportunities and individual liberties has had both positive and negative results.
The times are definitely changing. The younger generations of females are experiencing a new sense of freedom that women in the past never felt. As time goes on, the gap between women’s right and men’s rights will continue to close. In “Catching up to the Boys, in The Good and the Bad” the unfortunate statistics proves this point. With society’s accepting attitude, the opportunities for women will continue to grow. Since females are more comparable to males, they have acquired their lifestyle to an extent. More and more teenage girls and young women are getting into car accidents (a very male dominated “thing to do”). The alcohol and drug abuse is an obvious change in the lives of girls. Even at Pascack Hills, a sheltered and very high-end school, there are plenty of girls who act more like boys in terms of alcohol consumption and drug use. Numbers don’t lie. In the times when women’s lives were restricted by society there were rebellions and protests for equal rights. Now that many of the restrictions have disappeared, problems and conflict has appeared. The fact of the matter is that women are catching up to men. The question is: is that a good thing?