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   Further dispelling the myth that we don’t need feminism and equality is the lay of the land.   This interview describes the situations and pressures young women face as they make there way through our patriarchal society.  Read or listen to the whole interview on CBC, it is well worth your time.

AMT: We spoke to two 16 year old women from Toronto to get their perspective on their sexuality. We’re not naming them to protect their privacy. Listen to what one of them had to say about what she thinks about when she gets dressed.

SOUNDCLIP

If I want to look hot, I definitely wear something that shows my stomach. But like I feel like it has to be– there’s like a kind of like a fine line about that because again, If I wear something that’s too revealing then I’m like a slut or I’m asking for any kind of attention that I get for men…

AMT: Okay, she could have been in your study.

PEGGY ORENSTEIN: She sure could have been. You know the thing is, what one girl said to me that I thought was so brilliant was, usually the opposite of a negative is a positive, but when you’re talking about girls and sex, you’re either a prude or you’re a slut. One girl said to me isn’t there a difference between dressing sexy because you need validation and you don’t feel good about yourself, and dressing sexy because you do feel good about yourself and you don’t need validation. And I said well, sure maybe, tell me what the difference is. And she just kind of drooped and said, I don’t know, you know I spend my whole life trying to figure that out and I think it sometimes at the expense of my well-being. And we know that it actually is at the expense of well-being because one of the bait and switch aspects of thinking that sexy is the same as confidence and the same as sexuality is that self-objectification for girls is linked with all kinds of the issues that we worry about. It’s linked to cognitive deficits, it’s linked to depression. It ironically reduces sexual pleasure.

[Listen to interview here:cbc.ca]

[Transcript here.]