Recently, I’ve found myself reading numerous blogs post and articles degrading teenagers for their scandalous Instagram selfies and twitter posts. Self-righteous stay-at-home-moms shaking their heads at twerking, and other terrible aspects of pop culture.
At first, I read these blogs with the docile humbleness that these writers expect from children reading their oh-so-educational articles. I let them beat me down with their accusatory language and overbearing ways. And for a little, I let them convince me that just being a teenage girl was wrong.
Then, about halfway through another blog post called “Dear Daughter, let Miley Cyrus be a lesson to you” made by yet another shocked mother, I was fed up. Particularly when I read the last line: “Dear daughter, I am going to fight or die trying to keep you from becoming like the Miley Cyruses of the world”.
The “Miley Cyruses of the world?” What does that even mean? Am I a ‘Miley Cyrus’ because I have an Instagram, and I squeal over British boy bands? What is the classification process for separating the “Miley Cyrus’ teenage girls from the “non-Miley Cyrus” teenage girls?
I, as a teenage girl, am really tired of adults bashing on me. Degrading my Instagram selfies, demeaning the way I dress, and shaking their heads at everything I do. I’m tired of having mothers shield their boys’ eyes whenever I walk past in a tank top, and painting me as a robot who rubs her butt on everything.
On behalf of most teenage girls out there, I would like to make something extremely clear about teenagers: we are not idiots. I don’t understand why adults think that a couple of music videos and one shocking VMA performance has brainwashed us entirely. Contrary to popular belief, watching Miley Cyrus at the VMA’s has not inspired us to do anything other than make use of the hashtag “Twerkmileytwerk”.
We were actually all really content with ourselves, for the most part. I mean sure, there was the occasional dilemma of what to wear, or whether or not we were going to get asked to homecoming, but for the most part, we were happy. We liked ourselves. And then all the raging housewives came along, armed with blogs and disapproving looks, and they made us teenage girls really confused.
And honestly, being a hormonal teenage girl in high school is already hard enough.
You’re supposed to look pretty so you don’t get called ugly, but if you use too much makeup then you’re plastic. If you don’t put out, you’re a prude, and if you put out, you’re a disgrace, and if you don’t specify, you’re a tease. If you act like everyone else, you’re a robot who has gotten sucked into pop culture, but when you act different, you’re not acting like a ‘lady’.
Having adults put on their ‘I’m-an-adult-so-I-know-what’s-right’ hat and then writing terrible things about you is just too much.
The average teenage girl is not the stupid, impressionable child that most of these writers seem to believe that we are. We do understand that we’re all unique and special, and for the most part, we love ourselves. At least, we used to love ourselves—before you started degrading us.
And so, to all of the bloggers and columnists who are outraged at the 2013 teenage girl, I would like to extend a humble plea: please stop shaming us. Because we’re trying really, really hard to figure out who we are, and you’re making it even harder.