This document discusses research on the lives and experiences of teenage girls in Britain. It finds that while teenage girls are less happy and less physically active than boys, they are more law-abiding, hard-working, and less likely to harm themselves. The document also examines how teenage girls feel influenced by but don't trust the media, have body image issues due to unrealistic beauty standards promoted, engage in risky sexual behaviors and drinking, outperform boys academically, and many young girls aspire to be famous.

1. ‘Am I Bovvered?: What are teenage girls really thinking?’
Girls v boys:
Girls are:
Less happy
Less likely to eat breakfast
More law abiding
More hardworking (homework)
Less likely to exercise
Less likely to kill themselves
More likely to post pictures on social networking
Academic achievement vs. objectification by magazines
‘gender-blurring’(1) - girls becoming more like boys - is exaggerated.
Teenage girls and the media
• Influenced by, but don’t like or trust the media
• 67% of 16- to 25 year olds feel misrepresented
• Focus on skinny celebrities
• Rarely asked for opinions
Body image
• Half of 16-25 year olds say the media makes them feel ‘being pretty
and thin’ is the most important thing
Sex, drugs and alcohol
• Britain has the highest teen pregnancy rates in Western Europe
• For every 1,000 teenagers in poorer areas, 80 will become pregnant,
compared with 16 in richer ones
• 40% of sexually active 13- to 14-year olds were drunk or stoned when
they lost their virginity
• 29% of 16 year old girls had been binge drinking three times or more
in the last month (boys at 27%)
Educational Achievement
• 2007, they did 8% better than boys in gaining A-level grade C and
above
• outperforming boys by 12% in GCSE grade C or above in 2007
Role models and ambitions
• 40% of 7- to 10-year-olds questioned in a survey of 3,000 young
females(1) want to be ‘famous’