emodying girlhood

By Michelle Roca -
As much as I hate to admit it, this image does accurately represent the current state of girlhood in America.  I would love to point our browsers to an image of a girl with cut off jeans, scrapes on her knees, no make-up and a loose pony tail seconds away from unraveling into a mess of free flowing hair.  Instead, the image presented here, of a made up girl, torn between who she should be and being allowed to discover who she might be, seems most fitting for our generation of girls blossoming into womanhood.  The image above embodies girlhood in that it displays the confusion and uncertainty that accompanies the often happier times of growing up.  Trying to reconcile who you want to be with who everyone else wants you to be can throw any girl into emotional discord as she negotiates her own identity.  The girl in the image reads as depressed and uncertain, definetly confused about what is expected of her.  She seems like she's trying to identify both herself and social expectations that are suppressing her own individual girlhood.  Her eyes avoid the camera, looking away from confronting the issues at hand.  Wearing make-up she shouldn't have to, but feels she has to, the girl in the image represents a little bit of all girls who have faced the challenges of social standards and the universal perception of what a "girl" should be.

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