Teens vs. The Election
If you were a girl that declared that you wanted to be president when you grow up, but people shamed on your dream because of you are a girl: you can keep living that dream. "Although you’re told from a young age that you can be a president even though you’re a woman, you’ve never been shown you can do it, so this makes girls think they can," Jaelyn Justesen, 14, told reporter of The New York Times Claire Cain Miller.
This presidential election has been frustrating and inspiring for all especially teens. In fact, a new poll from the New York Times studies the impact of the election on teenage girls is what you'd expect: simultaneously inspiring and frustrating. For example, approximately 25% of the girls age 14 to 17 interviewed said that Hillary Clinton's candidacy made them want to pursue a position of leadership in the future. The 17% of participants in this study said it made them less likely to want to be a leader. For Trump, the numbers were about 15 and 27% respectively. This goes without saying that this election has been very frustrating and exiting for all people in this country not only teens and millennials. However teens (13-17) and millennials (18-24) are the largest and most influential age group ever. The issues that young people have will cater to a lot of both parties votes. The issues that touch people especially young people have are college education, reproductive rights, Black Lives Matter, climate change, immigration to name a few.
More startling than any of the leadership numbers, however, is the impact Trump's comments have had on the interviewee's views of themselves. 42% said his comments have impacted the way they think about their bodies. Teens girls do experience rating from 1 to 10 on themselves and from outside forces. If presidential candidate has that same power it doesn't help the girls' self-confidence. Enjoy the following videos via Teen Vogue, the very influential voice for all its readers regardless of race, age, sexual orientation or religion. Thank you, Teen Vogue for realizing the responsibility and impact that the media can have on young people.
