There's a reason many girls "throw like a girl," research suggests, and it's not a physical or anatomical one.
Youth workers who analyse research have pointed to some of the new trends around age-old issues among girls, particularly the cultural downpour of "more sexy, more pressure, and more violence."
In a July report by the Centre for Youth and Family Ministry (CYFM), executive director Kara Powell and assistant director Brad Griffin highlighted research on the influence of self-objectification.
"Researchers ... have found that the way a girl feels about her body predicts how she'll throw a softball," Powell and Griffin wrote, citing the report, titled "Throwing like a girl: Self-objectification predicts adolescent girls' motor performance."
The more a girl is concerned about her appearance, the more likely she will throw like a girl. That also applies to one's view of God.
"[I]f it's true that the way girls feel about their bodies affects the way they toss a ball, then it's all the more true that the way they feel about their bodies impacts the way they view the One who created them in His image," stated Powell and Griffin.
The CYFM directors identified three "mores" in current trends.
First - More Sexy:
A recent report by the American Psychological Association showed the increasing sexualisation of girls today. Virtually every media form studied, including television, music videos, movies, video games and advertising, provides ample evidence of the sexualisation of women, APA reported.
Women more often than men are portrayed in a sexual manner and are objectified and a narrow standard of physical beauty is heavily emphasised, according to the 2007 report.
Such sexualisation negatively affects girls' well-being, the study further found. Sexualisation is linked to impaired cognitive performance, eating disorders, low self-esteem, and even physical health problems.
Meanwhile, over 77,000 invasive cosmetic surgical procedures were performed on teens 18 and younger in 2005, which was a 15 percent increase since 2000, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Powell and Griffin highlight that minors cannot undergo such surgeries unless their parents consent and oftentimes, the parents pay for the surgery.
A recent ABC 20/20 report found that parents are giving their teen girls breast implants or other cosmetic surgery procedures for their high school graduation gift as opposed to the more typical new car.
Lulu Diaz, whose parents let her trade in the Jaguar they bought for graduation for new breasts, told ABC the talk among her friends is about how they look and getting breast implants.
The gift of breast implants costs about $7,000, but parents say they want their children to be happy.
