|
Excerpts from an article in Time Magazine
October 30, 2000 by Michael Lemonick.
Some girls seem to be developing breasts at the
tender age of 4. They tiny buds that appeared were
gone within a couple of weeks, but three years
alter, they reappeared and this time they grew,
along with public and armpit hair. By age 9, some
girls have full-blown breasts and are getting their
period. If these were isolated cases, they might be
chalked up to statistical flukes. But it seems as
if everywhere you turn these days - outside
schools, on soccer fields, at the mall - there are
more and more elementary schoolgirls whose bodies
look like they belong in high school and more and
more middle schollers who look like college coeds.
They are also towering over a generation of boys at
an earlier age. And, the boys who seem, next to the
girls, to be getting smaller every year. Even more
troubling than the physical changes is the
-potential psychological effect of premature sexual
development. The fear is that young girls who look
like teenagers will be under intense pressure to
act like teenagers. Childhood is short enough as it
is, the kids bombarded from every direction by
sexually explicit movies, rock lyrics, MTV videos
and racy fashions. If young girls' bodies push them
into adulthood before their hearts and minds are
ready, what will be forever lost?
What's going on? Is it something in the
water? That's possible. It wasn't until 1997
that anyone put a finger on it. That's when Marcia
Herman-Giddens noticed in her clinical work that
more and more young girls were coming in with
breasts and pubic hair. Intrigued, she lunched a
major study of 17,000 girls to get a statistical
handle on the problem. What she found was that the
changes of puberty were coming in two stages, each
with its own timetable. The average age of menarche
had already fallen dramatically (from 17 to about
13) between the middle of the 19th century to the
middle of the 20th, mostly owing to improvements in
nutrition. What was striking was the onset of
secondary sexual characteristics such as breast
buds and pubic hair. Significant numbers of white
girls - some 15% - were showing outward signs of
incipient sexual maturity by age 8, and about 5% as
early as 7. For African-Americans, the statistics
were even more startling. Fifteen percent were
developing breasts or public hair by age 7 and
almost half by are 8.
The uncertainties swirling around the phenomenon
make it difficult for scientists to nail down a
cause. The theory that has the broadest support
holds that early puberty is somehow tied up with a
much more familiar phenomenon: weight gain.
America is in the midst of an epidemic of
overweight and obese kids: between the last 70s and
early 90s, the percentage of children ages 6 to 11
who were overweight nearly doubled, from 6.5% to
11.4%. We've known for a long time that very
overweight girls tend to mature earlier and very
thin girls, such as anorexics, tend to mature later
than normal. We also know that fat cells produce
leptin, which is necessary for the progression of
puberty. Overweight girls have more insulin
circulating in their blood. Those higher levels
appear to stimulate the production of sex hormones
from the ovary and the adrenal gland.
There are those who believe the sexualized
messages bombarding kids from all sides could be
triggering changes in the brain that are
jump-starting development. MTV, they say, is
absolutely one of the factors in early puberty.
But, whatever the cause, doctors say early
development has become too widespread to be treated
as a medical aberration. In the past girls who
developed breasts before age 8 were given hormone
therapy to slow things down. But others argue that
most girls between 6 and 8 who develop breasts or
pubic hair should be reclassified as normal and
left untreated. Three-four- and five-year-old girls
should still be managed aggressively, but there are
far fewer of these.
The physical dangers of sexual harassment and
sexually transmitted diseases, and, for those who
start menstruating early as well, pregnancy - are
only the most obvious fallout of premature
development. Academic pressure, drugs and alcohol
in the schools, peer pressure and sexually explicit
media (especially women's magazines) are all
conspiring to foreshorten childhood, with
consequences that are still not well understood.
One result of these influences is that girls are
wearing highly sexualized adult clothing in middle
school and below, even when they don't have adult
bodies.
What can parents do? Talk with your
kids (boys, too, since very little has been studied
about their development during this time.) Explain
to those girls who are developing or have their
period at 9, just say this does not mean you're a
woman; it means you're a nine-year-old having a
period and we are going to proceed accordingly.
Most important, agree virtually all the experts, is
that parents keep communicating with their
daughters. It doesn't matter what you tell them.
Just get the dialogue going because when they hit
puberty, they'll have questions and they will ask
you if they feel comfortable.
Boys may continue to taunt girls in middle
school when the young males' raging hormones really
start to kick in. By then, many boys may despair of
ever catching up with their more physically and
socially advanced female peers. And their
insecurity may be heightened by the fact that some
girls have already begun to look forward to high
school and the change to meet "real boys" - as
opposed to those gawky dweebs in the next seats.
Experts say adults can help allay boyish fears by
explaining that girls naturally mature faster,.
Boys have to be made to feel OK about their
development and their bodies. They shouldn't be
shamed for being immature. If people come to
believe that boys will never grow up, that prophecy
will be fulfilled.
Related Issues,
Books,
Resources,
Workshops
Disclaimer - Information is
designed for educational purposes only and is not
engaged in rendering medical advice or professional
services. Any medical decisions should be made in
conjunction with your physician. We will not be
liable for any complications, injuries or other
medical accidents arising from or in connection
with, the use of or reliance upon any information
on the web.
Contact
Us |
Disclaimer
| Privacy
Statement
Menstuff®
Directory
Menstuff® is a registered trademark of Gordon
Clay
©1996-2023, Gordon Clay
|
