Monday, January 26, 2009

The Slutty Generation

I was sitting in my sorority dining room today eating lunch with some of my sisters, and somehow we got on the topic of "our generation" versus our mother's. It was interesting because one girl made the comment that "Each generation is getting sluttier and sluttier! I mean, how do we stop that?" Another answered, "Ban Bratz dolls..." I just found this really interesting. She shared a story about how her mother is appalled that girls sleep at frats regularly. But she said that her mother also got married one month after graduating college, and my friend wondered out loud where she WAS sleeping during her engagement in college. I wondered the same question. If our mothers rarely drank or drank in moderation compared to our generation (another fact told to one of my friends) how did we turn into these promiscuous girls who are seemingly "out of control"?

I do not find myself to be one of those girls, and my mother was always open about sexuality and sex. Not in an inappropriate way, but I understood the concept early on. What I noticed was that many of my friends who are more promiscuous or bigger partiers than myself, learned little about sex or drinking from their parents. Their sex talks were stilted, strained and awkward. Does that contribute to promiscuity at a younger age, or perhaps a more "liberal" outlook when it comes to drinking and sex?

I really don't want to come across as blaming the "sluttier" generation on prudish mothers (because I know plenty of girls with much too "open" mothers who are JUST as "bad"...), but I am wondering if there is a correlation between the two. Can openness or at least the willingness to talk lead to more responsible young women, who don't feel as if sleeping around is a new, fun form of rebellion?

Friday, January 23, 2009

Worried

Over the Christmas break, I kind of lost track of my mentees J and K... I talked to J over the break once and she told me that her and K had a falling out...again. I know that these types of things are SO normal in middle school, but I just wish I could help them get through it more. They need to understand that other people's influence on their friendship can't cause the end of it. It just hurts me to know that both of them are having issues with each other, and that those issues were brought on by other people's gossip and rumor spreading! How can this type of behavior between girls be stopped?!

Feels Like College

This week has been amazing! Classes started last week and I've been absolutely loving all of them especially my Feminist Theory class. I was shocked to find that out of the 18 or so people in my class, about HALF are guys (STRAIGHT ones too!!) We've had stimulating conversations in every class, I didn't want to leave! It's just so nice to know that other people feel the same way as I do on some issues, but that we can also discuss disagreements openly and without judgement. It actually feels like....college....woah, weird right?