If Author Rachel Simmons, co-founder of Girls Leadership Institute, is speaking in a general sense, she might be exaggerating about the negative effects of prom on girls, unless she is including the upper-class private school proms.
She says in her article, "The damaging messages of proms", that prom is “an event where girls internalize damaging cultural messages” by putting pressure on them to show off and be better than everyone else. Maybe my public school, Batesville High School, is different from others, but I’d say that I have yet to see major competition between our girls. Even the “popular” ones don’t do that. All they really care about is having a good time while they’re there or anywhere for that matter.
Apparently, as the article states, Facebook ‘likes’ are crucial to these girls’ “self-promotion”, which brings a problem of “comparing oneself endlessly to others”. If there was one person, or even a group of girls, who put all their energy into comparing and competing, they’d probably be disappointed because nobody really cares. I don’t even think getting prom queen is a big deal to most of our girls.
However, I will say that these problems could be more prominent in other environments, for example: private schools. Simmons states that “today, prom is still a rich girl's party”. I attended a private Catholic school for about three years. For that school, Simmons might actually be understating instead of exaggerating. I’m pretty sure they spent their daddies’ entire year salary on that one night.
According to Simmons, “online photo albums are anxiously monitored as barometers of popularity, telling girls who is ‘in’ and ‘out’”, which, for the private-school girls, is definitely true. I have seen all those rich girls’ posts with their thousand dollar dresses and red-carpet hair and makeup, and all I can say is that I’m so glad I wasn’t still attending that school during the time of prom or even homecoming. I know I wouldn’t have been able to spend as much as they all did, and that would have made me a bully target for the rest of my years there… well, a worse one, since I already was a target while I was attending.
Prom may have negative effects on girls at private schools, but very rarely is prom a major problem for girls at public schools.
Website: www.CNN.com
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