Reviving Ophelia

Pipher formats the chapter as an exposition of the shifts and similarities between the generations of the ’50s/’60s, the ’90s, and the 2010s. She constantly flips between periods to illustrate the ever-mounting list of challenges that adolescent girls must deal with, forming an intense juxtaposition that solidifies her overall position further. Pipher’s experience in the ’50s and ’60s is dramatically different from what girls of the 1990s and girls of today are going through. While she makes note that hers and Cassie’s experiences cannot be generalized to everyone, both “stories had something to say about how the world had stayed the same and the way it had changed for adolescent girls” (102). Pipher’s childhood was far less media-saturated, and a sense of community was very much present in her life.

Despite the flaws of her time, Pipher insists that girls are dealing with the same problems she did and more. Sexuality is still a daunting and difficult subject and one that pervades girls’ lives more than ever before. Girls are lonely in the 21st century, as they are addicted to technology and often even afraid to venture out compared to girls of the ’60s or ’90s, despite “America [being] much safer today than it was in 1994. Today’s teens are murdered and robbed less frequently and have fewer car accidents and alcohol-related deaths” (105). Being over-exposed to media on a constant basis is leaving girls burdened with a fear of the world. The details and statistics that Pipher expands upon throughout the chapter provide a clear context for how she views the shifts in culture, gender norms, and technology. Like previous chapters, she includes anecdotal evidence to strengthen her argument and add emotion and substance to fact.

While Pipher can relate to girls of the 1990s to the present on some levels, she realizes she must first learn what life is like for them and see it through their eyes to help them. Pipher’s research is an amalgamation of her direct experiences in therapy with teenage girls over three decades, a series of focus groups conducted with iGen, and research into the data and statistical side of the issues. Pipher uses the experiences of her own youth to compare and contrast with the experiences of girls in the ’90s and today while noting that these experiences are not necessarily universal. Despite this, the general challenges faced by girls can be applied to most, and statistics are used to back up Pipher’s assertion that, while violent crime has decreased, experiences of sexual assault and humiliation seem to be on the rise, and much of this trend is due to ever-present technology and media. The positive side of this change is that girls can be more open about their sexuality and flexible in their gender expression, though there is still a long way to go. Pipher always ends her chapters with either a positive or a potential solution, and here she presents the idea of strengthening communities and reducing peoples’ addictions to the online world, arguing that “unless we reclaim our nonvirtual lives and rebuild some semblance of the communities of the past, we will lose much of what is rewarding about our humanity” (108).