The other day, I was talking to a 15 yr. old girl and, a 14 yr. old boy. The conversation was about the advantage and, disadvantages of the two sexes that came about because of a comment about, " that time of the month." The girl, whose name is Rachel said to the boy Calvin, " you are so lucky that you don't get your period." Rachel, went on and expressed how unbearable the cramps are., "I was flabbergasted when I heard the response from Calvin. It hit me in a place that I was aware of yet, hearing it from his mouth was something no mother would ever want to hear. Calvin, went on to say, " man, I'll take cramps any day because, you have no idea how hard it is to be a teenage boy these days." He said the following things are issues teenage boys have to struggle with every day.
1. You have to constantly, watch your back.
2. Guys, run up on you for no reason or because, they think you're looking at them in a wrongful manner.
3. You have to maintain a strong mentality to, say no to drugs, gangs and, peer pressure.
4. You have to choose between applying yourself and, being all you can be in school or, run the risk of getting jumped because, you're smart
5. Appear to be dumb or, less intelligent and hope that because, you're not applying yourself you
won't get beaten up.
He also said, there are just so many obstacles in your way today that somehow being a girl, would seem much easier. It hurt me to hear this 14yr. old young man sound so distraught and, unsure of living from day to day just being a young male in today's society.
» left by James P Krehbiel(1,141) James P Krehbiel (1 year 282 days ago.)
Maxine,
Some boys, particularly those in urban environments, experience some of the issues described by this boy. However, I have seen cases with my patients where there is alot of dramatizing going on which amounts to excuse-making. Each circumstance is unique. Thanks for generating this discussion! It is important. Respond to this comment
» left by India from Australia (1 year 277 days ago.)
wow i never realised the pressure guys are under these days. I thought they had it easy, obviously not! they have it just as tough as we do. All though it may not come through to us girls, guys have just as many problems as we do. They can just hide it better. Which proves that in some cases they are the better sex. But it equals out when we have other situations. Respond to this comment
» left by Scarlett from Toronto ON (1 year 272 days ago.)
I think both sexes face the same peer pressure issues, girls with "that time of month" to keep up with trends,be nice and have friends,and to be pretty.
Boys seem to need to make the whole class laugh,be disgusting in some manner,have a catch phrase,be able to beat other guys up and to be able to make nice come-backs when someone insults them,not to mention the more vulguar the better. I have observed this from my class and have conclueded that BOTH genders have different TYPES of stress/peer pressure,its just one is more obvious than the other. Respond to this comment
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