The Body Scoop for Girls: A Straight-Talk Guide to a Healthy, Beautiful You - Softcover

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Jennifer Ashton, M.D.,, Ob-Gyn is a board-certified ob-gyn who speacializes in adolescent gynecology. As CBS News Medical Correspondent, she regularly contributes to The Early Show and CBS Evening News with Katie Couric. She has also been featured on such broadcast venues as XM Radio's Oprah and Friends.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

WHAT TO EXPECTWHEN YOU'RE ADOLESCENT

NOT YOUR MOTHER'SGYNECOLOGIST

You're a New Kind of Girl—You Deserve a New Kind of Medicine

Casey,1 fifteen, a slender redhead with a sprinkle of freckles on her nose,was sitting next to my desk, twisting a strand of long, straight hair when Iwalked into my office. I could tell she was nervous.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Ashton," I said, sitting down at my desk. Since this wasCasey's first visit, we were meeting in my cheerful office, not in an examroom. (After all, do you want to meet your doctor for the very first time in an exam room withyour clothes off? I wouldn't either. So my patients meet me in their clothes, at my desk.)Casey looked startled when I introduced myself. "Really? No way," she burst out. Thenshe blushed. "Sorry, it's just…; you don't look like a doctor."I laughed. I hear this all the time. Is it my blond hair? My leopard-print skirt and ToryBurch boots? Lucky for me, I didn't have to check my fashion sense at the door when theywere handing out degrees at Columbia Med School. Or my sense of humor, either.

And it's a good thing, too. Without a sincere appreciation for a witty comment or thelatest color in Uggs, my job wouldn't be nearly so much fun. I love the humor, the sass, thestreet sense, and the totally exhilarating energy of my teenage patients. Although I do treatadult women, too (often the mothers of my teen patients), I spend most of my time everyday talking with, laughing with, and treating girls from their early teens to early twenties.That's what Casey and I did—talk and laugh. After a good chuckle overher confusion, we found ourselves talking about pretty much everything—why she'd come (bad cramps), her overall health (pretty good), and her lifein general (crazy busy, with dance team practice, SAT prep courses, collegevisits, and a long-time boyfriend). The more we talked about her incrediblyfull life, the more Casey reminded me of something—the single most importantthing I've learned from my patients. It's this:

It is much, much harder to be a teenage girl now than ever before.

Yeah, I know, the lonely-zitty-anxious-harassed teen years have neverexactly been an all-expense-paid vacation to Hawaii. But it's tougher todaythan ever. Even tougher than when I was a teen (and that wasn't so longago—really!). And also tougher, at least in some ways, than when your parentswere teens. Sure, you've got your iPod, your cell phone, your computer.You can text your best friend about tomorrow's math test and checkyour new crush's Facebook page at the same time with one hand tied behindyour back. You're smarter, more sophisticated, and way more connectedthan your parents were (or are). But you're also under phenomenalpressure—academic, social, physical, and sexual.

"You're supposed to get perfect grades, but even straight A's aren'tenough to get you into a good college," Casey told me. "You're supposedto volunteer, play sports, and be a genius at something, like violin or math."Don't forget being pretty, popular, and fun. And talk about social pressure—who knows what your so-called friends might be texting about you at anygiven moment? Sure, social pressure's been around forever. But today it'snonstop, always-on, 24-7.

I asked Casey if she was sexually active. "No," she said. "But at schoolthere's definitely pressure to dress sexy and act like you're having sex."Where does all this extra sexual pressure come from? Everywhere. Onestudy showed that teens today may be exposed to twice as much sexualcontent on TV as they were even ten years ago. Another shows that themore sexy shows a teen watches, the more likely she is at risk of gettingpregnant. Then there's music, movies, videos, and social networking sites—not to mention the fact that it just takes one click of the mouse for someoneto e-mail a naked picture of you to a thousand of your closest friends.

On top of all that social pressure, there's this physical fact of life. Notonly are girls dressing older and acting older but their bodies actually areolder, in some ways, than they used to be. Just a decade or so ago doctorswouldn't have expected your breasts to start developing until age ten. Nowwe know that your breasts might start budding as early as age seven oreight.2 Meanwhile, if you're white, you're likely to get your first periodabout three months earlier than girls did forty years ago, and if you'reblack, it will come a good five to six months earlier than it did in the late1960s. And two centuries ago girls hit puberty a good four or more yearslater than they do now.

We don't really understand all the reasons for the shift, but we do knowthat better nutrition and general health play a big role.

So with all this added pressure on you, are you getting lots of new informationand new resources to help you deal with it all? Or a new levelof respect for handling stress that previous generations just didn't face?

Yeah, right. In your dreams.

That's why I wrote the book. A new kind of teen—that's you—needs anew kind of doctor. That's me.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

The way health, sex, and physical information is handled by schools,teachers, doctors, and even some parents, you'd think today's girls wereliving in a time warp. Sex ed is still taught exactly the way it was thirtyyears ago (often it's all-abstinence-all-the-time). Most parents still have atough time talking with their daughters about their bodies: Many parentsdon't even know the right words for the female anatomy. (Not that I blamethem—their parents never talked to them about their bodies.) Even doctorsdon't seem to want to talk straight with girls. Old-school doctors alwaysseem to fall into two groups: the "Just-Say-No" group (as in "Can we talkabout safe sex?" "No.") and the "Free Love" group ("Whatever you do isbeautiful. Just use condoms.").

Come on, people! This is the information age!

If you ask me, both these approaches are disrespectful to girls. I believein giving you all the information you need, at the right age, so you canmake smart choices for your body and your emotional health. That doesn't mean I'd tell you it's OK to have sex at a young age: In fact, I'll tell you allthe medical reasons why that's not a good idea. But I'll also expect you touse your own best judgment and I'll treat you accordingly, with respect forthe choices you make.

To make those choices, you need the very latest research and informationpresented in a straight-up way. That's why I wrote this book. I'm notgoing to take sides or preach one school of thought over another. You'resmart. You know how to get information and you know how to think. I'mgoing to give you the right information at the right time and let you makethe choices that are right for you.

LESSONS FROM THE RUNWAY

If there's one thing Project Runway has taught us, it's that one size or styledoes not fit all. I trust you. And I know you can make the decisions that fityou—your physical and emotional development.

To help you do that, I'm giving you all the facts, in a straight-as-an-arrowway, about pretty much everything your body will encounter through yourteens and early twenties. In Section One you'll read about what to expectfrom your body in puberty—how to deal with period problems, infections,injuries, and hormonal issues. You'll also learn how to care for your breastsand bones for the rest of your life. In Section Two...