A Tangle of Discourse: Girls Negotiating Adolescence By: Raby

Some things that I understood is that adolescence is associated with five western discourses such as “the storm, becoming, at risk, social problem and pleasurable consumption” (Raby 425). Discourses according to Raby, “refers to a set of meanings, metaphors, representations, images, stories, statements and so on that in some way together produce a version of things or people”(430).The author further states that since adolescence is a discourse, it is constructed and reinforced by those with power. The western discourses can be viewed as stereotypes that are no different from the racial stereotypes. Adolescents are considered "others" in our society.Raby also adds that adolescence is also affected by gender, class and race but these topics are not really explored within her paper. Adolescence is a Western phenomenon that was created in the twentieth century. It is linked to consumer culture and capitalist imperatives.

Raby interviewed twelve girls and eleven grandmothers in order to find out what they thought about adolescence as they were experiencing it. The experience of these girls was compared to that of their peers and the western dominant discourses. Grandmothers were used to reflect on their own experiences as adolescents, their views on adolescents and what they thought of their grand children as adolescents. Their opinions all varied which proves that the five discourses are contradictory. One good is example is a grandmother Jan. When she was first asked how she see teenagers today, she first began by stating that different generations cannot be compared. But she compares generations by saying that teens today are more determined to get that they want.

One question I had was wheather adolescence is viewed as biological? I know that not many of the interviewees discussed adolescence in terms of biology. But how does society view or health specialist see adolescents?

Below is a video I found that relates to the reading. Its a poem about teens, rebellion and self identity among other things. Hope you enjoy!

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The reading connect to all of the conceptual frameworks that we will be discussing in class. For example "teenagers are not some alien life form" relates to the article because Raby uses grandmothers in order to compare their experiences as adolescence to that of their grandchildren and etc. Something I found interesting was that the author believes adolescent development is exaggerated. According to Raby, "teen years are stormier for parents than for teenagers"(431). This can be very true because when I was a teen, my mother seemed to have more of a problem that I was growing up. She didnt know how to handle every situation that she encountered with me because she didnt have her mother in her life as a child or a teen. The author also stated that how a child is raised also depends on how they turn out...wheather they are respectful, disrespectful and etc. I believe this is very true because I was raised to be respectful of adults among many other things. Even though I rebelled against my mother, individuals differ and I'm sure not every woman in the world was rebellious as teen.