Thinking back to my days as a 13-year-old girl, I cringe. As a short, freckled, stubby girl, I was awkward and shy and played jacks by myself during recess. I didn't know what porn was, I didn't want anything to do with boys, and I was constantly self-conscious. I spent my days as a 13-year-old girl reading" Harry Potter" and watching Disney movies on VHS.
Me (age 10) Maggie (age 2)
Enter Maggie. Maggie is tall, blonde, beautiful, smart, driven and incredible. She is my little sister and she is 13. She has all the attitude that a "typical" 13-year-old girl should have. She has an Instagram and a Twitter account. She likes to make music videos of her friends and her. She wears stylish high-waisted shorts and mid-drift tops, and has to deal with eighth-grade drama on a regular basis.
Maggie makes me incredibly uncomfortable. I am uncomfortable with the world my 13-year-old sister has to exist in.
I watched the "Little Mermaid," she watches "House Bunny." I listened to songs about being Blue (da ba de da ba dai), and she listens to the Burlesque soundtrack. Now don't get me wrong, I think "House Bunny" is hilarious and I do enjoy the sweet sounds of Christiana Aguilera and Cher, but I'm 21 and she is 13. I have (theoretically) matured, and she is still growing up.
When the stresses and drama of eighth grade got to be to much for me, I just went home and turned off my AOL chat. When she gets home, the drama continues on social media and on her cell phone.
A few weeks ago, a girl that she had never met started texting Maggie's friends saying she was going to kill her. The text I saw read, "I'm gonna kill that bitch." Why would a strange 13-year-old girl want to kill my sister, you ask? Maggie is friends with her boyfriend. While this may seem like a small incident, it wasn't to her, and it wasn't to me.
Me (age 20) Maggie (age 12)
Never in my 21 years on this earth has someone threatened to kill me; not in high school, at basic training or during my time at college. Why is it happening in eighth grade classrooms?
I don't have an answer, but I have concerns. I am 21 years old and my sister is 13-years-old, but we are being confronted with the same hyper-sexualized culture. We consume similar media filled with violence and sexual undertones, and we are held to similar unrealistic beauty standards. Maggie and I are both told by society that it's our job to be sexy and to fight for the attention of men.
I don't have a way to protect my baby sister from the society and culture she lives in. I do have a say in the kind of role model I am for her.
