The girls describe a cruel school sexual politics, in which boys press for sex and tease girls who refuse, while girls egg each other on, then turn on those who accede to boys' demands. You always try to pretend that what people say about you doesn't affect you, but it does. You slowly start to believe what's being said about you. In voices that ring with hope and pain, girls describe the search for identity and the pain of exclusion. When girls don't meet these 'qualifications,' they get teased or ridiculed.
Voices probes differences among girls by race, ethnicity, and region.
Yet across all groups, teens today say they are forced to grow up too fast as they face concerns of drugs, violence, sex, and pregnancy. Girls of all backgrounds blame the media for promoting an unattainable body image. African American and Hispanic girls voice more concern about pregnancy than do white and Asian American girls. Few girls name AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases as concerns. The Voices of a Generation database was made up of girls' responses to six questions on the summit application form.