So I've had a few responses from the banner I'm running right now about 13-year-old girls. There seems to be some touchiness about it. One concern was that I allowed a movie to shape my opinion. The images in the banner I'm running were convenient and easy to find and so I used them. My opinion on this topic has been shaped from a large variety of incidents, news reports, accounts from peers and my own eyes and ears. Several young teens have refuted the concerns I have. Others, older than 13/14 who are looking at their slightly younger peers are saying, "teenagers will be teenagers. It's normal."

Then there are parents out there who are ignoring the signs. I think there is a real unwillingness to address a real problem growing in society, and that is that, like it or not, admit it or not, children are becoming sexual. Some aren't, the way some or even many people in any group are choosing or not choosing to do things.

I'm not concerned with the girls who are growing and maturing at a normal, healthy pace. I'm concerned about the extremely young girls I hear on the subway talk about blowjobs at parties. I'm concerned with the binge drinking I hear the girls talking about in the food court in the mall. I'm concerned about the skin these girls are showing, the T&A cleavage, the tight, suggestive things that these girls are using to put themselves out there.

I'm concerned about all of these things. Focusing on one's sex appeal, rather than one's sexuality, at such a young age is not productive. It's not going to help a girl achieve self-awareness, self-respect, goals (Or develop long term goals for that matter).

Obviously girls are giong to think about boys. They're teenagers, they're full of hormones and it's totally understandable, natural and healthy. But there is no child alive who can consent to sexaul acts with full knowledge/awareness of the emotional/physical ramifications. I'm not saying girls these age are stupid but their ability to reason can only come so far. Their brains haven't fully developed yet and that is a fact. The part that is still developing? The frontal lobes, that is, the reasoning centre of the brain. Frontal lobes enable a person to fuly comprehend the consequences of his or her actions, to plan and to react reasonably.

A time when your brain is still under heavy construction is not an ideal time to begin your sexual life, nor to binge drink (Binge drinking is never healthy but especailly not at sucha young age).

For those 13- and 14- and 15-year old girls who have not gone this route, this is not directed at you, any more than the Walk Against Male Violence Against Women is not a directed assault at males who have never been violent towards women, nor would consider such a thing. My banner, my entry and all the concern within both is aimed at the growing number of young girls who are making decisions that are endangering their health and well-being.

This is not a generalization, nor is a sterotype. It is a serious and very real growing problem. Not acknowledging it will not make it go away, nor will denying there is a problem make it so there is no problem at all.

If my banner seems too broad, well... it's a banner with limited space. It's intent is to grab attention and bring readers in to the entry I had written specifically about that topic.

Seems it's serving its purpose.

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