And I have a few issues with this. Not about actually being 16 or a girl: teenagers grow up and girls are awesome.
But seemingly the rest of the world's perceptions of us are, to say the least, not so great.
Firstly, there's the assumption that we're all irrational and over-emotional and just frankly annoying. Okay, so yeah I've been known to 'fan-girl' (even the phrase is problematic) and yes, sometimes over some fairly stereotypical things and people (Tom Hiddleston anyone?) but that doesn't give other people the right to dismiss our genuine interests as puerile or unimportant.
The reason why so many teens can seem so uninterested and 'cool' about things is that we've somehow learnt that it isn't cool to be passionate.
So, if I want to get slightly over excited about Tom Hiddleston, T S Eliot or Taylor swift do us all a favor and just me leave to it yeah?
Ahh, Taylor Swift: the queen of 'teenage girl music'. This leads me on perfectly to my next point. It's often heard of certain things being referred to as 'for teenagers' as if this somehow makes them less valid.
People often don't view art, music or literature aimed at young people as 'serious' or worthy even.
This is ridiculous when you think that some of the books we study as literary classics today were originally aimed at children and a younger audience. Gulliver's Travels and Alice's adventures in wonderland are both great examples of this.
Furthermore such respected classics as Jane Eyre and pretty much all of Jane Austen's books would very likely be labeled as 'chick lit' today (though this is maybe more of a gender issue.)
However, I think my main issue with this trivializing of the teenage is when it crosses over into belittling actual emotions and feelings. Our problems are often simply put down to hormones and being in 'that awkward teenage stage'.
Yes, hormones may have a part in how truly messed up we're feeling sometimes but does this make our emotions any less real? Any less our own?
As teenagers we are trying to invent ourselves, to figure out our own identity and start to build our own lives away from being defined simply by our family or school.
This is difficult and scary enough for most people without being crammed into a box with every other person who happened to be born within the same few years.
Ahh, Taylor Swift: the queen of 'teenage girl music'. This leads me on perfectly to my next point. It's often heard of certain things being referred to as 'for teenagers' as if this somehow makes them less valid.
People often don't view art, music or literature aimed at young people as 'serious' or worthy even.
This is ridiculous when you think that some of the books we study as literary classics today were originally aimed at children and a younger audience. Gulliver's Travels and Alice's adventures in wonderland are both great examples of this.
Furthermore such respected classics as Jane Eyre and pretty much all of Jane Austen's books would very likely be labeled as 'chick lit' today (though this is maybe more of a gender issue.)
However, I think my main issue with this trivializing of the teenage is when it crosses over into belittling actual emotions and feelings. Our problems are often simply put down to hormones and being in 'that awkward teenage stage'.
Yes, hormones may have a part in how truly messed up we're feeling sometimes but does this make our emotions any less real? Any less our own?
As teenagers we are trying to invent ourselves, to figure out our own identity and start to build our own lives away from being defined simply by our family or school.
This is difficult and scary enough for most people without being crammed into a box with every other person who happened to be born within the same few years.
Sorry for the very rambling post, as you can tell I'm still trying to gather my thoughts on this matter!
-Philippa x
No comments:
Post a Comment