Male domination, and the low and stigmatised status of women, cause teenage girls to engage in punishment of their bodies through eating disorders and self-mutilation. There is increasing evidence that woman-hating Western cultures are toxic to girls and very harmful to their mental health. It is, perhaps, not surprising, therefore, that there seem to be some girls baling out and seeking to upgrade their status.
Interpretation
The quote addresses the harmful effects of societal expectations on women's bodies, leading to self-harm among teenage girls.
Sheila Jeffreys highlights the detrimental impact of male domination and societal attitudes towards women, suggesting that the stigma surrounding women contributes to serious issues such as eating disorders and self-mutilation among teenage girls. The quote indicates that these cultures, which perpetuate woman-hating narratives, are deeply harmful to mental health and may push girls to seek ways to elevate their status in a toxic environment.
In practice
In a speech addressing mental health in schools, one might use this quote to highlight the impact of societal pressures.
Men's ideas about what women are have been formed from their ruling caste position, and have assigned women characteristics that would most advantage their masters, as well as justify men's rule over them. They do not represent 'truth' but have been promoted as if they were, with the backing of science and patriarchal views of biology.
All my life I had to fight. I had to fight my daddy. I had to fight my uncles. I had to fight my brothers. Girl, child ain't safe in a family of men, but I ain't never thought I had to fight in my own house. I loves Harpo. God knows I do. But I'll kill him dead before I let him beat me.
Daddy felt that this country was hopeless in its treatment of Negroes. So he became a refugee from America. He bought a house in Polanco, a suburb of Mexico City, and we were planning to move there when he died. I was fourteen at the time.
Kids feel like they have to puff up or shrink. These reclusive qualities begin to develop because you feel that who you are is going to either be accepted or rejected by your family and friends.
I feel wicked sleeping in a warm bed, while my dearest friends have been knocked down or have fallen into a gutter somewhere out in the cold night. I get frightened when I think of close friends who have now been delivered into the hands of the cruelest brutes that walk the earth. And all because they are Jews!
It took me as long as I had known him to get rid of all of his words. Like turning an hourglass over.
People should be conscious of the large contribution made by anything that gets people together easily in the reduction of loneliness and emotional well-being.
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