I'm not sure I can really speak for most about this, but I don't really recall the physical process of puberty and adolescence all that well. I do remember watching a great deal of really bad films on it, however. And something I remember about that came up in these chapters as well: embarrassment, mostly among males. No matter how many films they watch about testicles dropping and voices changing, most of them would pretty much like to ignore the process entirely and pretend it's not actually happening.
My response: can you blame them?
Society as a whole tends to tell males that to be successful, they need to be big, strong, and not afraid of anything under 17 feet (unless it happens to have tentacles). Having one's voice crack while answering an algebra question isn't exactly conducive to that image, and neither is a round-table discussion amongst peers on who's growing pubic hair and who isn't. Competition is the name of the game amongst adolescent males...and usually it's the ones who end up losing who turn into those "popular psychologists" the text mentions who are always calling on men to share their feelings more. In actuality, from what I remember, I sincerely doubt too many people would be all that interested in my feelings as an adolescent; generally, I'm sure they could be classified under the heading of "sheep syndrome" (i.e. if Larry in row 3 looks a bit more smug than anyone else in class, we should probably all be doing whatever he's doing). Other than that, I probably spent most of my time thinking about girls with a minute or two for wondering what assignments were due the next day.
Summation? Someday, male adolescents might talk about their feelings more; on the whole, we probably won't learn that much from it.
Questions for easy conversation:
1. The second chapter spent a great deal of time talking about how female puberty is generally looked upon as a negative thing; it then went on to say that females generally talk to each other and their mothers more about their pubescent experience...does the natural support network that females seem to have regarding puberty cancel out the negative notions attributed to it?
2. The reading mentioned reports done almost a century apart. It got me to thinking...if each generation feels that the members of the next generation face new and more frightening challenges than ever before...what do you think the generation two generations from now will be facing (my bet is either nuclear holocaust or the re-emergence of Big Band music as a popular art form, with both being pretty much equally horrifying).
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In answer to question #1, in some ways, i think it does make puberty easier for girls to deal with, that they can talk with each other, or talk with their moms. On the other hand, it seems like more is at stake for girls. I read two books that talk about this. One is called "the body project" and it talks about changing attitudes toward girls' puberty. and the other book is called "slut" Both, in different ways, talk about how early maturation can lead to damaging effects for girls. In the earlier part of the 20th century, into the 1970s, early maturation for girls was associated with being lower class and was looked down upon. That idea has pretty much gone away. But early maturing girls, now, are still more likely to be labeled as sluts, regardless of their actual sexual behavior. yikes.
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