{"id":609,"date":"2014-12-02T01:35:08","date_gmt":"2014-12-02T01:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.youthfacts.org\/?page_id=609"},"modified":"2014-12-02T01:35:08","modified_gmt":"2014-12-02T01:35:08","slug":"perfect-girls-starving-daughters-book-review","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.youthfacts.org\/?page_id=609","title":{"rendered":"Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters – Book Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters: The Frightening New Normalcy of Hating Your Body<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Courtney E. Martin (2007)<\/p>\n

In decades past, chauvinist traditions suppressed the advancement of young women. In the 1980s, conservative, mostly older women helped defeat the Equal Rights Amendment. None of these barriers prevented America\u2019s young women from taking over higher education and, within a decade or two, dominating professions like law and, soon, medicine, and forging a feminist revolution of unprecedented proportions.<\/p>\n

Suddenly in the 2000s, as young women are pushing into unheard-of education, economic and political territories, several feminists have joined conservatives and mainstream commentators in creating fear of young women. A troubling example is Huffington Post and Alternet journalist Courtney Martin, who relentlessly magnifies her own and her acquaintances\u2019 middle-class anxieties to fabricate an unprecedented generation-wide pathology she links to their very success.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon’t get me wrong,\u201d Martin writes, \u201cthere is a whole nation of young women doing incredible work:\u201d<\/p>\n

We outnumber men on college campuses by two million and rising every year. We hold more offices in student government and are more likely to have taken AP biology and chemistry than our male peers. I recently interviewed over 100 women between the ages of 9 and 30, for my book Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters, and was consistently amazed at the work ethic and good works of the women I spoke with.<\/p>\n

But underneath the Pollyanna story of our high achievement is an ugly underbelly. We are more diseased and more addicted than any generation of young women that has come before. Perhaps in the face of all of this pressure and perfectionism, we are succumbing to dangerous emotional numbs\u2014eating disorders, binge drinking, and even harder drugs (Huffington Post<\/em>, June 7, 2007).<\/p>\n

Martin depicts girls\u2019 lives as a joyless hell of perpetual misery, self-loathing, danger, and self-destruction\u2014\u201ca bubbling, acid pit of guilt and shame and jealousy and restlessness and anxiety,\u201d as she puts it (page 4).<\/p>\n

Whose horrible lives is she talking about? \u201cMy friends and my friends\u2019 friends, and sometimes even my friends\u2019 friends\u2019 friends\u201d (page 10). Martin, like other youthphobes, appropriate the voices of all girls and young women (based in her case on interviews with \u201c100 women between the ages of 9 and 30\u201d she selected out of a young female generation of 30 million) to their own particular agenda. What are her interviewees like? \u201cAt the age of twenty-five, I can honestly say that the majority of the young women I know have either full-blown eating disorders or screwed-up attitudes toward food and fitness,\u201d she declares. \u201c\u2026 My generation is expending its energy on the wrong things\u201d (page 2).<\/p>\n

Martin morphs \u201cmy friends\u201d etc. into \u201cmy generation\u201d and normal angst into mass trauma. In an era in which feminists should be celebrating the strengths of young women, Martin\u2019s image of them resembles that of 19th<\/sup> century anti-suffrage preachers who warned that women\u2019s fragile psyches would collapse if exposed to the pressures of men\u2019s cruel, crude outside world.<\/p>\n

Martin\u2019s negative stereotype (shared by culture-war conservatives such as the Manhattan Institute\u2019s Kay Hymowitz and backwards-thinking traditionalists) is that today\u2019s girls and young women are uniquely weak, masochistic, and shallow. In her depiction, young females perversely seek the most damaging aspects of popular culture to facilitate their self-destructive obsessions. Martin and others ignore the rich diversity of popular culture and girls\u2019 affirmative expressions through online forums, zines, and similar new media. Instead, these commentators typify the most offensive popular culture messages they can find and declare, in Puritan tones, that girls will be drawn to them by some kind of self-destructive imperative.<\/p>\n

Having ferreted out the worst of cultural imagery, Martin and similar girl-fearing commentators then proceed to ferret out the worst young-female expressions they can find, supplemented by the worst media stories, advocacy groups\u2019 claims, and anecdotes; that is, the usual materials for books about youth. Youthphobe commentators\u2019 search for 12-year-olds wearing \u201cslut\u201d t-shirts to misportray as The Everygirl is poisonous. They ignore\u2014in fact, seem to resent\u2014the vast array of more solid measures that show girls today are happier, healthier, and safer than those of the past, a time today\u2019s commentators bizarrely nostalgize as one of tranquil, girl-affirming community.<\/p>\n

In Martin\u2019s unhappy world, crushing anxiety about body image is what the large majority of girls and young women \u201cwake up in the morning to\u2026 walk around all day resisting\u2026 go to bed sad and hopeless about<\/em>\u201d (page 3, emphasis hers). If Martin and interviewees really spend the whole day<\/em> miserable that they can\u2019t all be buxom gamines, that is shallow. How is self-hatred, fixation on celebrities, and endless negativism about young women feminist? Writes Martin:<\/p>\n

The sheer volume of celebrity illegality, and the specifically female faces behind the mug shots, is indicative of the new normalcy of addiction for young women–of all classes, cultures, and locales–in this country.<\/p>\n

It is time that the dwindling state of young women’s mental health stop being treated as outrageous titillation, and start being seen as grounds for serious outrage.<\/p>\n

This, simply, is idiocy. That a tiny minority of female celebrities get in the news for drinking or drugs proves all young women everywhere are addicts? What \u201cdwindling state of young women\u2019s mental health\u201d? By what right does Martin use the term \u2018we\u201d to appropriate her own troubles to 30 million young women?<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t to say that Martin is wrong that body image, eating, pill popping, and related anxieties are a \u201csocial problem\u201d for some girls and women\u2014around 10% to 15% seem seriously affected, which merits attention. But why does Martin insist on conscripting an entire generation into her walking wounded regiment while refusing to acknowledge the obvious: that for the large majority of girls and young women, negative issues are managed along with life\u2019s other difficulties?<\/p>\n

Fortunately, it\u2019s clear that the vast majority of girls today do not succumb to Martin\u2019s style of misery and do not appear to require sequestering from harsh realities. They do not obliterate themselves with pills, booze, hopeless sex, and suicidal depression to cope with the inevitable discovery of personal imperfections. True, the vast majority of females can never achieve the anorectic glamour certain fashion models display or the troubled celebrity of a few divas. But realizing you can\u2019t be the best at everything is part of handling growing up and everyday life.<\/p>\n

What, then. constitutes an authentic voice of girls? Certainly not authors, psychologists, interest groups, and pundits whose narrow agendas impel them to cruelly misrepresent girls. Nor would writers like me, who would write sunny (and low-selling) books by generalizing from the girls and young women I\u2019ve encountered as students, coworkers, and in programs, ones who overwhelmingly appeared happy, optimistic, and handling their lives well. But whether grim or optimistic in their personal outlooks, authors who select girls to interview, media stories to quote, and rare anecdotes to illustrate their points wind up suppressing the genuine voices of the young female generation they claim to represent.<\/p>\n

None of us can know what millions of girls really think, but we can look at measures designed to probe representative samples. There are two places we can turn to find the girl generation\u2019s voice: long term, non-ideological surveys, and public health, crime, and other referential statistics against which to check girls\u2019 self reports.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m no fan of surveys, but Monitoring the Future\u2019s annual surveys of thousands of teenage girls at least objectively queried a larger, representative population\u2014not the girls Martin and others select. Monitoring the Future found that girls, allowed to respond anonymously to questions themselves rather than having misery-projecting adults appropriate their voices, presented a much happier image.<\/p>\n

For example, we would never expect from Martin\u2019s \u201cacid pit of guilt and shame and jealousy and restlessness and anxiety\u201d that 70% of high school senior girls today report being happy with themselves, 86% are happy with their friends, 66% are having fun, and 77% are happy with their lives (Table 1).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Table 1. But don\u2019t girls admit they\u2019re more depressed,<\/strong><\/p>\n

scared, peer-tortured, alienated, and selfish today? NO!<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Percentages of high school senior females telling Monitoring the Future:<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Question:<\/td>\n1975\/76<\/td>\n1980<\/td>\n1990<\/td>\n2000<\/td>\n2005<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Happiness<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019m \u201cvery happy\u201d<\/td>\n21%<\/td>\n18%<\/td>\n18%<\/td>\n23%<\/td>\n23%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Satisfied with life as a whole<\/td>\n63%<\/td>\n66%<\/td>\n65%<\/td>\n64%<\/td>\n66%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Having fun<\/td>\n64%<\/td>\n67%<\/td>\n68%<\/td>\n65%<\/td>\n66%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Enjoys fast pace and changes of today\u2019s world<\/td>\n45%<\/td>\n42%<\/td>\n58%<\/td>\n56%<\/td>\n50%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Daily participation in active sports\/exercising<\/td>\n36%<\/td>\n38%<\/td>\n34%<\/td>\n35%<\/td>\n36%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Are you satisfied with (percent agreeing)\u2026<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yourself?<\/td>\n66%<\/td>\n71%<\/td>\n69%<\/td>\n71%<\/td>\n70%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Your friends?<\/td>\n85%<\/td>\n85%<\/td>\n87%<\/td>\n83%<\/td>\n86%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Your parents?<\/td>\n65%<\/td>\n69%<\/td>\n65%<\/td>\n68%<\/td>\n67%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Your material possessions?<\/td>\n75%<\/td>\n75%<\/td>\n71%<\/td>\n73%<\/td>\n75%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Your personal safety?<\/td>\n68%<\/td>\n67%<\/td>\n66%<\/td>\n69%<\/td>\n71%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Your education?<\/td>\n56%<\/td>\n64%<\/td>\n64%<\/td>\n64%<\/td>\n70%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Your job?<\/td>\n56%<\/td>\n54%<\/td>\n60%<\/td>\n56%<\/td>\n60%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Values (percent agreeing)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Important to be a leader in my community<\/td>\n19%<\/td>\n20%<\/td>\n33%<\/td>\n40%<\/td>\n46%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Important to make a contribution to society<\/td>\n55%<\/td>\n52%<\/td>\n62%<\/td>\n65%<\/td>\n70%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Important to have latest music, etc. fashions<\/td>\n77%<\/td>\n78%<\/td>\n70%<\/td>\n59%<\/td>\n51%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Important to have latest-style clothes<\/td>\n42%<\/td>\n47%<\/td>\n57%<\/td>\n42%<\/td>\n39%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Wants to have lots of money<\/td>\n35%<\/td>\n41%<\/td>\n63%<\/td>\n57%<\/td>\n59%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Wants job with status and prestige<\/td>\n52%<\/td>\n60%<\/td>\n69%<\/td>\n65%<\/td>\n67%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Wants job that provides lots of money<\/td>\n84%<\/td>\n89%<\/td>\n86%<\/td>\n86%<\/td>\n86%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Wants job with opportunity to help others<\/td>\n92%<\/td>\n91%<\/td>\n92%<\/td>\n88%<\/td>\n90%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Women should have equal job opportunity<\/td>\n82%<\/td>\n88%<\/td>\n96%<\/td>\n97%<\/td>\n95%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Wants to correct social\/economic inequality<\/td>\n37%<\/td>\n35%<\/td>\n44%<\/td>\n39%<\/td>\n39%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Happier to accept things than create change<\/td>\n37%<\/td>\n39%<\/td>\n36%<\/td>\n39%<\/td>\n35%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Depression\/pessimism<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Dissatisfied with self<\/td>\n12%<\/td>\n10%<\/td>\n13%<\/td>\n10%<\/td>\n12%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sometimes thinks \u201cI am no good at all\u201d<\/td>\n28%<\/td>\n27%<\/td>\n28%<\/td>\n25%<\/td>\n24%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019m \u201cnot too happy\u201d<\/td>\n13%<\/td>\n17%<\/td>\n12%<\/td>\n14%<\/td>\n13%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Feels I am \u201cnot a person of worth\u201d<\/td>\n5%<\/td>\n5%<\/td>\n6%<\/td>\n7%<\/td>\n8%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Often feels \u201cleft out of things\u201d<\/td>\n33%<\/td>\n34%<\/td>\n36%<\/td>\n34%<\/td>\n29%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Feels there\u2019s usually no one I can talk to<\/td>\n6%<\/td>\n5%<\/td>\n6%<\/td>\n6%<\/td>\n5%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Feels \u201cI can\u2019t do anything right\u201d<\/td>\n10%<\/td>\n11%<\/td>\n12%<\/td>\n14%<\/td>\n14%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Wishes \u201cI had more good friends\u201d<\/td>\n50%<\/td>\n46%<\/td>\n50%<\/td>\n52%<\/td>\n44%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Not having fun<\/td>\n19%<\/td>\n13%<\/td>\n16%<\/td>\n20%<\/td>\n17%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Can\u2019t get ahead because others stop me<\/td>\n22%<\/td>\n21%<\/td>\n26%<\/td>\n26%<\/td>\n20%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Thinks \u201cthings change too quickly\u201d today<\/td>\n54%<\/td>\n56%<\/td>\n44%<\/td>\n44%<\/td>\n46%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Thinks \u201ctimes ahead of me will be tougher\u201d<\/td>\n47%<\/td>\n54%<\/td>\n45%<\/td>\n42%<\/td>\n41%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Don\u2019t participate in sports\/exercise (<1\/month)<\/td>\n22%<\/td>\n20%<\/td>\n25%<\/td>\n22%<\/td>\n22%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Feels \u201cpeople like me don\u2019t have a chance\u201d<\/td>\n6%<\/td>\n5%<\/td>\n5%<\/td>\n5%<\/td>\n5%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
*Source: Monitoring the Future, 1975-2005.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

Demolishing Martin\u2019s drama about young women\u2019s supposedly record levels of addiction, high school girls also report drinking and using drugs less today, and at older ages (Table 2). Fewer are prescribed mood-altering stimulants or use them on their own. The use of prescription narcotics has held steady, but all other drug, tobacco, and alcohol use has dropped, often substantially.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Table 2. But aren\u2019t today\u2019s girls smoking, drinking,<\/strong><\/p>\n

and using dangerous drugs at younger ages? NO!<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Percentages of high school senior females telling Monitoring the Future:<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Drug use (began with 1977 survey)<\/td>\n1977<\/td>\n1980<\/td>\n1990<\/td>\n2000<\/td>\n2005<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Smoked cigarettes daily<\/td>\n45%<\/td>\n41%<\/td>\n30%<\/td>\n32%<\/td>\n20%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Smoked daily before 9th<\/sup> grade<\/td>\n12%<\/td>\n17%<\/td>\n10%<\/td>\n13%<\/td>\n4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Drank alcohol (more than a few sips)<\/td>\n91%<\/td>\n92%<\/td>\n89%<\/td>\n78%<\/td>\n74%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Drank alcohol before 9th<\/sup> grade<\/td>\n21%<\/td>\n24%<\/td>\n32%<\/td>\n28%<\/td>\n19%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Used amphetamines<\/td>\n16%<\/td>\n17%<\/td>\n9%<\/td>\n8%<\/td>\n5%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 By physician\u2019s prescription<\/td>\n15%<\/td>\n11%<\/td>\n5%<\/td>\n6%<\/td>\n5%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Without a prescription<\/td>\n22%<\/td>\n25%<\/td>\n13%<\/td>\n11%<\/td>\n9%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Used amphetamines before 9th<\/sup> grade<\/td>\n1.0%<\/td>\n1.0%<\/td>\n2.6%<\/td>\n1.2%<\/td>\n0.6%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Used marijuana\/LSD\/other psychedelics*<\/td>\n60%<\/td>\n64%<\/td>\n44%<\/td>\n58%<\/td>\n45%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Used sedatives\/barbiturates\/tranquilizers*<\/td>\n26%<\/td>\n19%<\/td>\n8%<\/td>\n10%<\/td>\n10%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Used heroin\/other narcotics\/cocaine*<\/td>\n11%<\/td>\n14%<\/td>\n8%<\/td>\n13%<\/td>\n11%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
*Treats those who used more than one drug as a single user of each drug.<\/p>\n

Source: Monitoring the Future, 1975-2005.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

These healthier trends are now persisting past high school. Female first-year college students averaging 18-19 years old report feeling much less depressed than 20 years ago, when The American Freshman survey first asked that question (Table 3). However, there has been an increase in the percentage who feels overwhelmed by all they have to do, which may reflect the fact that women students are seeking higher degrees and are working more to pay off larger student loans than in the past.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Table 3. Percent of first-year college women saying they feel:<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Years<\/td>\nFrequently depressed<\/td>\nOverwhelmed by all I have to do<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1985-89<\/td>\n11.4%<\/td>\n25.8%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1990-94<\/td>\n11.0%<\/td>\n30.9%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1995-99<\/td>\n10.4%<\/td>\n37.7%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2000-04<\/td>\n9.3%<\/td>\n35.9%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2005-06<\/td>\n8.7%<\/td>\n36.8%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Change<\/td>\n-24%<\/td>\n+43%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Source: The American Freshman, annual survey, 1985-2006. UCLA: Higher Education Research Institute.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nor does any measure substantiate popular claims that college women are now smoking and drinking more than in the past or than men; both show declines (Table 4).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Table 4. Percentages of college first-years students who say they\u2026<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n1970<\/td>\n1990<\/td>\n2006<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Drank beer in the last year<\/strong><\/td>\n56%<\/strong><\/td>\n57%<\/strong><\/td>\n42%<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0 Female<\/td>\n43%<\/td>\n51%<\/td>\n37%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0 Male<\/td>\n67%<\/td>\n63%<\/td>\n49%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Smoked cigarettes in the last year<\/strong><\/td>\n12%<\/strong><\/td>\n8%<\/strong><\/td>\n5%<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0 Female<\/td>\n11%<\/td>\n8%<\/td>\n5%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0 Male<\/td>\n14%<\/td>\n7%<\/td>\n6%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

Do vital measures confirm girls\u2019 self-reported safety and responsibility? Violent deaths, pregnancies, and other ills have plummeted among girls in recent years (Table 5-9), trends that are hard to explain if girls are more troubled and addicted. Rather, it is their mothers, now middle aged, who are showing the most destructive trends and are now most at risk. Covering up older generations\u2019 problems may be why girls are being scapegoated.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Table 5. Young women getting safer, middle-aged women now most at risk<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Female violent deaths\/100,000 population<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Age group<\/td>\n1980<\/td>\n2004<\/td>\n<\/td>\nChange, 2004 vs. 1980<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
10-14<\/td>\n10.9<\/td>\n7.2<\/td>\n<\/td>\n– 34%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
15-19<\/td>\n36.4<\/td>\n27.5<\/td>\n<\/td>\n– 25%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
20-24<\/td>\n39.3<\/td>\n27.5<\/td>\n<\/td>\n– 30%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
25-29<\/td>\n34.2<\/td>\n25.3<\/td>\n<\/td>\n– 26%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
30-39<\/td>\n30.8<\/td>\n28.7<\/td>\n<\/td>\n–\u00a0 7%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
40-49<\/td>\n33.5<\/td>\n38.7<\/td>\n<\/td>\n+16%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
50-59<\/td>\n34.9<\/td>\n31.5<\/td>\n<\/td>\n– 10%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
60-69<\/td>\n39.8<\/td>\n30.6<\/td>\n<\/td>\n– 23%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sources: WISQARS, National Center for Health Statistics, 1980-2004<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

For all the supposedly apocalyptic body image problems Martin and others postulate, girls under age 20 obtain fewer than 2% of cosmetic procedures today, a declining number. Once again, it\u2019s older generations that seem to suffer the worst self-image crises, with burgeoning cosmetic surgeries and makeovers (Table 6).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Table 6. Teens aren\u2019t the ones getting surgical makeovers<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cosmetic procedures, 2001 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Cosmetic procedures, 2005<\/p>\n

Age group\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0number\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 percent\u00a0\u00a0 | \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0number\u00a0\u00a0 percent\u00a0 top surgical procedure<\/p>\n

under 19\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 298,000\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 4%\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 175,000 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a02% \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Rhinoplasty<\/p>\n

19-34\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1,870,000\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 22%\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2,700,000\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a024% \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Breast Augmentation<\/p>\n

35-50\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 3,740,000\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 44%\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 5,300,000\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a047% \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Liposuction<\/p>\n

51-64\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2,100,000\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 25%\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2,700,000\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a023% \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Eyelid Surgery<\/p>\n

65+\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 425,000\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a05%\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 530,000\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a04%\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Eyelid Surgery<\/p>\n

Total\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 8,500,000\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 11,500,000<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Source: Plastic Surgery Research.Info. Cosmetic Plastic Surgery Research, Statistics and Trends for 2001 \u2013 2005\u00a0http:\/\/www.cosmeticplasticsurgerystatistics.com\/statistics.html<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

If girls today are having unsafe sex by rising legions, we\u2019d expect pregnancies and STIs to be rising as well. Again, just the opposite is the case (Table 7).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Table 7. But aren\u2019t teens getting pregnant and having<\/strong><\/p>\n

babies and abortions at younger ages today? NO!<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

<\/td>\nPregnancies per 1,000 teenage females<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nPregnancies<\/td>\nBirths<\/td>\nFetal loss\/abortion<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Year<\/td>\n10-14<\/td>\n15-19<\/td>\n10-14<\/td>\n15-19<\/td>\n10-14<\/td>\n15-19<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1950<\/td>\n*<\/td>\n*<\/td>\n0.9<\/td>\n80.6<\/td>\n*<\/td>\n*<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1955<\/td>\n*<\/td>\n*<\/td>\n0.9<\/td>\n89.9<\/td>\n*<\/td>\n*<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1960<\/td>\n*<\/td>\n*<\/td>\n0.8<\/td>\n89.1<\/td>\n*<\/td>\n*<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1965<\/td>\n*<\/td>\n*<\/td>\n0.8<\/td>\n70.4<\/td>\n*<\/td>\n*<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1970<\/td>\n*<\/td>\n*<\/td>\n1.2<\/td>\n68.0<\/td>\n*<\/td>\n*<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1976<\/td>\n3.2<\/td>\n101.4<\/td>\n1.3<\/td>\n53.5<\/td>\n1.9<\/td>\n47.9<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1980<\/td>\n3.2<\/td>\n110.0<\/td>\n1.1<\/td>\n53.0<\/td>\n2.1<\/td>\n57.0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1985<\/td>\n3.6<\/td>\n106.9<\/td>\n1.2<\/td>\n51.3<\/td>\n2.4<\/td>\n55.6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1990<\/td>\n3.5<\/td>\n116.3<\/td>\n1.4<\/td>\n59.9<\/td>\n2.1<\/td>\n56.4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1995<\/td>\n3.0<\/td>\n101.1<\/td>\n1.3<\/td>\n56.8<\/td>\n1.7<\/td>\n44.3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2000<\/td>\n2.1<\/td>\n84.5<\/td>\n0.8<\/td>\n47.7<\/td>\n1.3<\/td>\n36.8<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2002<\/td>\n1.9<\/td>\n76.4<\/td>\n0.7<\/td>\n42.9<\/td>\n1.2<\/td>\n33.5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2005<\/td>\n*<\/td>\n*<\/td>\n0.7<\/td>\n40.2<\/td>\n*<\/td>\n*<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Change, 2002 v 1976<\/td>\n-61%<\/td>\n-25%<\/td>\n-46%<\/td>\n-20%<\/td>\n-37%<\/td>\n-30%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
*Indicates no data are available for that year. Miscarriage rates were higher in earlier years, and illegal abortions were estimated by public health authorities at 750,000 to 2 million per year prior to legalization in 1972.<\/p>\n

Source: National Center for Health Statistics.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

Further, given Martin\u2019s and other culture-warriors\u2019 claims of misogynist imagery pervading popular culture and corrupting young people of both sexes, surely rape and other sexual violence against young women has skyrocketed in recent years? The best measure of crime, the National Crime Victimization Survey, tells exactly the opposite story (Tables 8, 9).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Table 8. Rape victimization has declined dramatically among young women<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Annual<\/p>\n

average<\/td>\n

Rapes\/attempted rapes per 1,000 females ages:<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
12-15<\/td>\n16-19<\/td>\n20-24<\/td>\nAll 12-24<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1973-74<\/td>\n2.0<\/td>\n4.8<\/td>\n5.2<\/td>\n4.1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1975-79<\/td>\n2.2<\/td>\n4.9<\/td>\n4.1<\/td>\n3.8<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1980-84<\/td>\n2.4<\/td>\n4.3<\/td>\n3.7<\/td>\n3.5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1985-89<\/td>\n1.7<\/td>\n4.0<\/td>\n3.1<\/td>\n2.9<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1990-94<\/td>\n2.2<\/td>\n4.0<\/td>\n3.2<\/td>\n3.1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1995-99<\/td>\n1.2<\/td>\n3.2<\/td>\n1.8<\/td>\n2.0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2000-04<\/td>\n0.8<\/td>\n2.3<\/td>\n1.3<\/td>\n1.5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2005<\/td>\n0.9<\/td>\n2.4<\/td>\n0.7<\/td>\n1.3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Change<\/td>\n-55%<\/td>\n-50%<\/td>\n-87%<\/td>\n-69%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
*Survey changes in 1993 expanded definition of rape. Adjusted for female proportions of total rapes, 1993-2005. Source: National Crime Victimization Survey.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Table 9. All sex crimes against young women also are declining rapidly<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Rapes and sexual assaults* per 1,000 females<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Year<\/td>\n12-15<\/td>\n16-19<\/td>\n20-24<\/td>\nall 12-24<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1993<\/td>\n9.2<\/td>\n12.2<\/td>\n10.4<\/td>\n10.6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2000<\/td>\n3.5<\/td>\n8.8<\/td>\n3.7<\/td>\n5.2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2005<\/td>\n2.4<\/td>\n5.7<\/td>\n2.2<\/td>\n3.3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Change<\/td>\n-74%<\/td>\n-53%<\/td>\n-79%<\/td>\n-68%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
*Includes all rapes and other sexual assaults, whether completed, attempted, and threatened. Source: National Crime Victimization Survey, 1993-2005.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nearly all of Martin\u2019s other negative implications and \u201cfacts\u201d about the dangers facing young women today are reactionary junk as well, derived from mainstream media, drug-war, and other secondary sources without any context or history. For another example, in her June 7, 2007, column, Martin writes:<\/p>\n

According to The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University, 15 million girls and women use illicit drugs and misuse prescription drugs, 32 million smoke cigarettes and six million are alcohol abusers. In fact, misuse of controlled prescription drugs is even higher among girls (14.1 percent) than boys (12.8 percent).<\/p>\n

Risk-taking behavior is no longer the purview of the “bad boy.” From 1977 to 2000, there was a 13 percent increase in the number of women drivers involved in fatal, alcohol-related crashes, compared to a 29 percent decrease for male drivers.<\/p>\n

CASA is a grossly unreliable drug-war marketing agency headed by ideologue Joseph Califano, Jr., with a history of wildly biased surveys and documented errors in service to toughening laws and boosting client programs. Because CASA surveys predictably produce the wildest numbers, they\u2019re cited more often today by youthphobes.<\/p>\n

Martin\u2019s secondhand citation of CASA to make girls look bad has the usual problems. She (like CASA) fails to mention several key facts. First, even if the CASA report is right, 88% of girls and women ages 12 and older don\u2019t use illegal drugs at all, 75% don\u2019t smoke cigarettes, and 95% don\u2019t abuse alcohol. Second, Monitoring the Future finds, today\u2019s percentages are vast improvements over 25 years ago:<\/p>\n