I know this is pretty heavy topic and I am not sure how I will develop it. I realize that there are a great number of pitfalls, triumphs, fears, and doubts that plague this time in a person's life. For me there so many things to endure that I don't know where to begin. Some how I did manage to survive, therefore I may explore the fears of the American Teenager.
There were so many fears during my day for a black female, so I may need to settle on maybe one or two fears that will be related to one another. Bullying was a big fear that I believe is still prevalent today. Every era had the kids with low self esteem and/or feelings of "no hope" that tend to boost their ego by picking on other teens that were more interested in learning or staying out of trouble. The book I am reading Hair Styles of the Damned, by Joe Meno, Has a character that reminds me of the bullies of my day. Violence and sex are two themes that go hand and hand in all of the literature about teens.
I may decide to write about teen sexuality, but I think that there are so many people who write about already. Maybe if we stop talking about it will stop being so intersting to teens. Fat chance I bet. Anyway I guess I will just keep brain storming until I settle on a topic that has not been explored a great deal.
I kind of like the topic of "leaving home and becoming an adult" (Professor Wright's sugestion). That also was an eventful time for me. It was probably more exciting that the teen fears. although there were a great fear of would I be able to make it on my own. We shall see what choose I finally make.
Brenda
Red 2.0
16 years ago
What you mentioned about the topic Fears of the American Teenager, made me reminisce about my days in high school. For me bullying was not an issue, because I did not identify with any particular group, you know like the preps, or nerds, or geeks, etc. I was just thankful to have been in school and progressed to high school. Many called me quite, "goodie goodie" because I always excelled in every class. I suppose this is why people did not pick me out to bully me because they looked at me as being harmless you know.
ReplyDeleteBut looking back on those years, violence and sex were prevalent. For instance, the night before prom, a young man who went to my school was shot and killed. I don't remember the details, but I believed it was gang related, or it may have been suicide. Speaking of prom, young women were dressed as if they were soliciting sex. I mean their dresses were outrageously scantly.
But about your topic, I think it would be good to write about why violence and sex have overtaken teens.