Reviving Opheli Saving The Selves Of Adolescent Girls

While reading Mary Pipher’s, â€Å"Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls† and Dan Kindlon and Michael Thompson’s, â€Å"Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys,† I got a better understanding of the mindsets of teenagers in todays society. I learned that countless girls and boys have the same inner battles and do not even realize it. The two songs I chose that best represent ideas of woman and manhood are â€Å"Unpretty,† by TLC and â€Å"Stan,† by Eminem. I believe these songs support many of the stereotypes portrayed in both of the class readings and hold strong messages that can impact the views of girls and boys alike. They address many struggles that teenagers today may be going through but afraid of speaking about openly. In Reviving Ophelia, Pipher takes us into the minds of teenage girls and evaluates the ordinary troubles they encounter. She explains how girls tend to let the opinions of others influence their interests and appearance. They visualize how others perceive them and based on this, they form a self-perception. This perception can either be a positive or negative one. Generally if a girl establishes a negative self-perception, they have an urge to alter whom they are to gain approval. They crave acceptance from others so much that they usually through great lengths to get it. The problem is that many girls don’t accept themselves for whom they are and â€Å"Unpretty† speaks to those girls in particular. The song is by the popular 90’s RB groupShow MoreRelatedReviving Opheli Saving The Selves Of Adolescent Girls1360 Words   |  6 PagesReviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls, is author, Mary Pipher’s attempt to understand her experiences in t herapy with adolescent girls (Pipher, p. 11). In the text adolescence is described as a border between childhood and adulthood (Pipher, p. 292). In her quest to understand adolescent girls, Pipher attempts to answer these questions: Why are so many girls in therapy in the 1990s? Why are there more self-mutilators? What is the meaning of lip, nose and eyebrow piercings? How