Monday, February 17, 2014

A Tangle of Discourses: Girls Negotiating Adolescence-Rebecca Raby

"by characterizing adolescence as a turbulent and emotional stage, adulthood is framed as rational, calm, evolved, and knowing."

During the teenage years most adults are dealing with the stress of raising a teenager. The teenagers themselves entering the storm discourse prepare for this unpredictable part of life and therefore it becomes manageable on them. For the parents, they face anxieties triggered by the storm discourse and these anxieties and emotions are then transferred to the teenagers. Adolescents then become a whole group who need protection from themselves and this in turn makes the adults the protectors.



"being in the state of coming of age erases the ability of those in the state to describe or know themselves and places the privilege and responsibility on adult experts to explain adolescents."

Teenagers in the becoming discourse are made to feel like they cannot make their own decisions because they cannot know ones self. They are often told that they are too young to know better, or they have not experience enough to know. Adults are then put in charge with helping teens to understand themselves and adolescents. In a way this is a good thing because they have the time to make mistakes and to start over again.



"youth today are courted as a high-consumer group, and are modelled in the media as the ideal age, with teenagehood constituting the onset of the best years of your life."

In the pleasurable consumption discourse teens are not only top consumers but they enjoy the things that teens are supposed to do. They obsess over and enjoy music, movies, shoppings and other things that are fun and teens are supposed to have fun. They often enjoy all of these things at their parents expense and usually with ease. With teens having this disposable income, media targets them in the advertising world.






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