Here’s a quick series of stories about teen girls and their search for identity in the media saturated world we live in.  A story talking about the effect of teen magazines like Seventeen, Cosmo Girl!, Teen, and Teen Vogue on girls can be found here.  It’s a good read and I suggest you check it out.  And to find out what your teen daughter is reading this month in those magazines, head on over to Ypulse and check out their summary.

After you finish reading those articles, you can head on over to Australian paper, The Age, and read an interesting article by Celia Walden about identity cannibalism among teen girls.  To explain that peculiar term for you a little bit, here’s an excerpt from the article:

“Focusing entirely on those whose personality or physical attributes she covets, there is a new breed of woman who longs to be someone she isn’t, as if it were as easy as creating an avatar in some paradise-like cyber-universe. By definition, these identities cannot be acquired; but that does not stop the covetous from trying, and young women are ending the first decade of this century in a black hole of impossible desires. They are Identity Cannibals — or Cannibelles — desperate to be anyone but themselves, willing to steal another’s clothes, look and lifestyle to create a new “me”.”

As we approach a new school year and a new set of expectations and pressures from teen boys and girls alike to conform and fit in, this is an article all parents, educators, and youth ministers should read.

In recent weeks the media has been buzzing about teen pregnancy. Much of this coverage began with a June 18 feature in TIME magazine that reported of a “pregnancy pact” among a group of high school girls in Massachusetts.  The report stated that these girls, aged 16 and younger, conspired to get pregnant and even high-fived each other when the pregnancy tests turned out to be positive.  While it was later discovered that there was no pregnancy pact and many of the details reported in the story were untrue, a furor still erupted over the issue of teen pregnancy.  

Adding to this was the revelation that for the first time in 15 years the teen pregnancy rate in the United States is rising. Hollywood, a frequent lightning rod for any controversy regarding youth, has been blamed for much of this.  Last year’s award winning film Juno, the pregnancy of teen star Jamie Lynn Spears and TV shows, like ABC Family’s ‘The Secret Life of the American Teenager’, that involve pregnancy plots have been blamed for glamorizing the idea of teen’s having babies.  

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The U.S. has the highest rate of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases of all industrialized nations. What is the cause of this?  Well right now I’m seeing two trends appearing in the news: lack of education and celebrity influence.

Many people think a solution can be found through better sex ed for teens by parents and educators.  The idea is that teens become sexually curious but aren’t being properly educated by parents or schools about the facts regarding sex.  It’s argued that because of this young people are becoming pregnant and infected with STD’s. Many go even further to say that abstinence only education is hindering teens and that greater access to contraceptives and teaching about “safe sex” would make a huge dent in these troubling stats.

Another argument relies on example and influence. It argues that celebrity culture is glamorizing not only sex but also teen pregnancy.  Jamie Lynn Spears (Britney’s 17 year-old sister) recently gave birth to her child and referenced her delivery as being “perfect”.

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DVD Piracy On Rise; Young Men Leading Culprits

Despite the growth of new high-definition Blu-Ray DVD technology, old-fashion standard-definition DVD piracy continues to climb. According to one media consultant/researcher, Futuresource Consulting, about one-third DVD users have admitted to making copies of pre-recorded DVDs in the last six months, including many big blockbusters. A majority of the recording is coming from young men, ages 18-24. This activity is up from about 25% in 2007.
The company says if DVD users were unable to make copies, just about two-thirds would have made some of these DVD purchases. But those respondents added that they would buy those titles only if they were on sale or at a promotional price. Read the full story…

Foreclosures’ financial strains take toll on kids 

Millions of young people have become the largely overlooked victims of a real estate crisis that’s led to record foreclosures, sinking home prices and rising numbers of families straining to pay mortgage bills as adjustable-rate loans grow more costly and home equity shrinks. Children and teenagers are enduring a variety of consequences — forced to move and say goodbye to friends, leaving behind schools and teachers, and losing the ability to take family vacations or take part in summer camps because of the financial strain. Some are giving away family pets or suddenly finding themselves in charge of babysitting siblings because parents can no longer afford child care. In the most drastic cases, some wind up living with relatives or even in temporary shelters for the homeless. Read the full story…

Generation Y’s unique challenge 

Two weeks from now, product designer Dav-id Seymour will board a plane to Pakistan to begin an eight-month tour of Asia.  Seymour, 25, graduated in 2006 and has been working in design for a manufacturing company since then, but now he feels ready to broaden his horizons. His plan is to travel overland through India, China, Laos and Vietnam before flying on to Australia, where he will spend a year working freelance.  After that he will move on to South America for more travelling and then perhaps to North America before he considers his options for a permanent job.  “I think my generation feel freer to follow our own paths,” he said. “There are so many options open to us. It’s a cliché, but you only live once. You have to find a job you love, and experience as much of life as you can.”  Seymour’s views are typical of a group researchers call Generation Y – of those born after 1980 who have grown up in the information age. Several studies have been carried out into the characteristics of this group and now, as they begin to dominate the graduate-jobs market, recruiters are striving to understand what motivates them. Read the full story…

What teens want 

What do teens want? Tech, tech and more tech. From the latest mobile phone and game system to a new Apple i-something and a virtual apartment, technology increasingly defines the lifestyles of teenagers, say marketing experts and company executives. That was the main theme of the “What Teens Want” conference in Manhattan last month, as advertisers sought insights into a tech-savvy and globally connected generation that is remaking the image of the typical consumer. Read full story…

Psst! Rumor has it gossip websites hit home
Thanks to the internet, it has never been easier to dish on your friends, neighbors and co-workers. Taking a cue from popular celebrity gossip blogs, a growing number of websites are offering a place for anonymous users to post stories, gossip and rumors about average people. “This is the new-wave form of media,” said Nik Richie, the blogger behind TheDirty.com, a national gossip site with a New Jersey section. “People want to know about their neighbors. They don’t want to hear about Britney Spears.” While neighborhood gossip sites have been gaining readers, they also are drawing the attention of lawmakers and legal experts who are scrambling for ways to shut them down. Most critics object to the sites allowing their users to remain anonymous as they post malicious stories and photos of others by name. Earlier this year, New Jersey’s attorney general subpoenaed the owners of JuicyCampus.com, a popular college gossip site that features posts like “Sluttiest girl on campus” and “Who’s in the closet.” Read full story…

New York Times: Forget Gossip, Girl; the Buzz Is About the Clothes 

Since its debut last fall, “Gossip Girl” has always been more than a television series about its overt subject, the social machinations of Manhattan private-school students.It has also presented a cavalcade of fashion, its primary viewership of teenagers and young women tuning in not only for the plots, but also to render judgment on the clothes. The extravagant wardrobes of the stars — a clash of piped blazers, tiny kilts, dueling plaids and festoons of jewelry — have inspired countless posts on fan Web sites, and magazine features about the female leads. Read the full story…

Other Headlines: 

• Behind the Viral Video: What’s Fake, What’s Real
  
• Youth without youthful pretensions: Teens and the Movies
• Yearbook’s fake names target black students at Charter Oak High
  

USMagazine.com: Heidi Montag wants to record a Christian Album.

There is a different side to Heidi Montag that you don’t see on MTV’s The Hills, the 21-year-old budding singer tells USA Today. “I have been the most religious person since I was 2 years old. I always felt this crazy connection to God,” says Montag, who identifies herself as “kind of non-denominational Baptist.” Montag — who just released her latest single “Fashion” and frequently reads the Bible — says she even wants to record a Christian album. She adds that she once planned on devoting her life to God as a missionary in Africa.  Read the full story…

 

US News & World Report: Housing crisis popular with popular teens. 

While the housing bust is threatening to drag the entire economy into a debilitating recession, it’s great news for the teenage party scene.  With a wanton lack of sympathy for the mortgage meltdown and ensuing credit crisis, teenagers in one California community are using abandoned foreclosed homes as venues for unchaperoned—and presumably “raging”—drinking parties. Read the full story…

Minneapolis Star tribune: Teens who speed may soon meet cars that tattle.

Here’s one way to get teen drivers off the cell phone: Make them hook it up to the speedometer and automatically text Mom and Dad whenever the car is speeding.  The phones could conceivably keep track of such things as the number of passengers in the car, whether they’re wearing seatbelts and even monitor the volume of the stereo. Read the full story…

New York Times: Teen cruising declines as gas prices rise. 

For car-loving American teenagers, this is turning out to be the summer the cruising died. Kevin Ballschmiede, 16, pined for his 1999 Dodge Ram — “my pride and joy” — the other night as he hung out in a parking lot in this town outside Chicago. Given that filling the 26-gallon tank can now cost more than $100, he had left it at home and caught a ride.  From coast to coast, American teenagers appear to be driving less this summer. Police officers who keep watch on weekend cruising zones say fewer youths are spending their time driving around in circles, with more of them hanging out in parking lots, malls or movie theaters. Read the full story…

Kansas City Star: Growing modesty movement shows teens they can be stylish without revealing too much

Low-cut camis and short dresses may be the rage in fashion and celebrity magazines, but many young women say the styles expose too much, especially during summer. They’ve turned to faith-based organizations for help. The modesty movement, as it’s called, is gaining support from religious leaders who say it’s time to cover up. Religious groups have promoted modest-themed fashion shows and proms, and referred brides-to-be to shops that sell modest gowns. This month, hundreds attended the sold-out Pure Fashion Show at Arden Hills Resort Club & Spa in Sacramento, Calif. The Friday night show featured local teens from various churches modeling modest fashion from casual wear to evening formals. Read the full story…

TIME: Should you drink with your teen? 

The data indicate there are fewer young drinkers, but a greater proportion of them are hard-core drinkers. Parents have helped create this paradox. Many parents seem torn between two competing impulses: officially, most say in surveys that they oppose any drinking by those under 21. But unofficially many also seem to think kids will be kids—after all, not so long ago, they were themselves drinking as teens. A few of these parents have even allowed their kids to have big drunken parties at home. Read the full story…