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Mary Pipher's Reviving Ophelia

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In modern society, many adolescent girls are becoming young adults under the pretenses of false selves. When dealing with issues such as divorce, sex and violence, drugs and violence, and mass media, girls are learning to create a false identity in order to live up to stereotypical standards of beauty, popularity, and success. The book Reviving Ophelia, by Mary Pipher, Ph.D., discusses the accounts of several different girl’s therapy sessions, conducted by Dr. Pipher, which deal with aggression, disorders, and insecurities that are causing mental, physical, or emotional issues within adolescent girls trying to overcome the systematic oppression placed upon them. Throughout the book, several different girls’ stories were relatable to my own personal experience of adolescents in relation to the unrealistic expectations that create social, physical, and mental issues for many adolescent girls. One of the main hardships I was able to relate to throughout the book that Pipher describes as creating depression for girls, is divorce (Pipher, Pg. 136). My parents got divorced when I was 6 years old, but did not send me to therapy for the divorce until …show more content…

For a short period of time, I didn’t even recognize who I was. I was acting out in ways I did not enjoy, dressed in styles I didn’t agree with, and created a personality that I thought would make me more popular. I tried so hard to be the superficial person people wanted me to be, because I valued their opinions more than my own. One of the best decisions I ever made for myself was when I made a new group of friends. I was able to act and look like my true self and they accepted me for me. It made me a lot happier in my life and I was able to find my voice and make decisions for myself, instead of for society. This was the turning point for me in my adolescents that awakened me to the superficial expectations that adolescent girls have to fight

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