While I was reading The Rise and Fall of the American Teenager, I noticed that it was very hard for me to keep focused and interested in the book. It took me until the second part of the reading assignment to find something interesting. In the chapter called Dancing Daughters Hine started discussing laws that regulated sexual activity. I found this to be extremely interesting because back in the early 1900's and late 1800's the age of consentual sex for young girls in most states were between the ages of 10 and 12 years. I found this to be disgusting because older men were preying on young girls. Those girls are still considered to be children and have no experience in any sexual activity and no right to be doing those things. Hines had mentioned that the teenage pregnancy rate went up as well. When the children are born there is probably going to be a lot of conflict. The fact that the age difference is so significant in some situations, the baby is going to be raised in an unbalanced household. The girls who supposedly wanted the sex and consented to it is not believable. I think that some of them were too afraid to actually say anything because they were afraid to upset anyone. Also, there was such a fight and struggle to raise the age in most states.
Another thing I found to be very interesting was the term "petting". I have never heard of that term until I read this book. I think that it is weird that teenage girls and boys would get together and do all kinds fo sexual activity except for intercourse. Hines said that by petting the teenagers during that time were less likely to have sex especially those teens who were educated. According to the text the more educated you were the less likely you were to have intercourse and the least amount of education you had the more likely you were to have intercourse. I find those statistics to be ridiculous. No matter how educated teens are they are still going to want to experiment. I do not think education has anything to do with that. The teenagers during that time even had petting parties which is involving more than one couple in the same place doing sexual things. Now a days that is not common. I have never heard of or been to a petting party. Now a days kids have sex earlier and ealier. They jsut skip all the fore play. I think that kids are starting ealrier because they are not being educated of all the scary things that could happen. Schools basically just teach abstinence and it does'nt seem to be doing a great job or making an effect. Kids should be scared out of their minds not to have sex. When I was in high school my teachers literally scared me and my classmates so bad. They would show disgusting videos and tell us all the bad things that could happen.
Learning in the Age of the Trigger Warning
11 years ago
I agree with you. My first impression was that the book was boring. After reading, on page 8, that "the teenager is the symbol of Americans' rising aspriations, the repository of hopes, the one who will realize the American dream" I became a bit curious as to how the rest of the book would describe teenagers. There are some boring segments, but most of what Hines writes is reflective of what I actually lived or heard from my mother and people of her era.
ReplyDeleteI can see how the Dancing Daughters chapter can be both interesting and disgusting for you, however it may not be as unheard of as you think for girls to be married at the age of ten and twelve. Today girls are sexually active at this age and are not even engaged. When we look at society in that era and today we see a very different ten and twelve year old female. At any rate it may have been a good idea to regulate the sexual activity of people because as HInes stated they were "in an age without antibiotics" (181)
The "petting parties are a good way for teens to self regulate their sexual activity. With the lights down low, the right music, alcohol, and opportunity something was bound to happen. "Petting could provide the release each participant was searching for. This brings back memories of my teenage years. It was not a spoken word that teens came to a party for "petting," but it almost always happened. As Hines stated sex is inevitable and "by the twentieth century..women of all classes were beginning to express it" (178).
In a way it does make sense that educated women would be less likely to have sex than those less educated. It has been my experience that education provides a sense of hope for ones future. Sex is a form of gradification that replaces hope, which provides enthusiasism. You are so right girls are having sex early, but I don't think it is because of less education. I feel girls are having sex early because they are seeing more of it every where they turn. I think teen today know more about sex than I did when I was a teen.
Brenda