The health risks of maturing early

[Diamond_Dog]

This article is several years old, but it’s very timely now. I was thinking of the 10-year-old rape victim in Ohio when I read this. Sick men harrass and rape young girls and now the state says they cannot have abortions. I don’t know what kind of sick misogynists think this is OK. It also brought back to my memory the ways men and older boys looked at me when I was a young girl.
The things they say when you walk past. The noises they make, the way they leer at you. Even in school. Especially in school. Where you’re supposed to feel safe. What a joke. I wish we could raise boys and men to respect women and not harass them. I think I did a pretty good job with my three sons in this area.

Here is the article.

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I remember the first time a stranger openly gawked at my bare legs. It was the summer before I turned 11; I was at a small convenience store near our home. The man stood behind my mother and me at the checkout line, staring me up and down. He looked the same age as my father. But it wasn’t friendliness I detected in his eyes.

As a young girl who developed early and looked older than my age, my mind struggled to catch up with the rapid changes taking place in my body. The stares from older men made me feel anxious and unsafe. Every time a stranger made kissing sounds as I walked by, my heart pounded and my mouth turned dry. If I close my eyes, I can still hear their voices yelling obscenities from passing vehicles; I am once again a 10-year-old child afraid of wearing shorts in public.

Enduring unwanted comments and stares may seem minor compared to other types of sexual violence. Still, studies have shown they can be particularly distressing for a child, putting them at risk of psychological problems that can reverberate throughout their life.

(snip)

Although puberty presents challenges for all adolescents, girls who mature ahead of their peers are particularly vulnerable. One recent study, which tracked more than 7,000 women over a period of 14 years, found that early menarche (the first menstrual bleeding) was associated with elevated rates of depression, substance abuse, eating disorders, and anti-social behaviours in adulthood. “The effects of early puberty on psychological health have been replicated in many different countries around the world,” says Jane Mendle, the study’s co-author and a psychology professor at Cornell University.

One reason may be that early-maturing girls experience a spike in unwanted attention and comments about their bodies from older boys and grown men. “The important thing about puberty is that it’s visible to others,” Mendle points out.

Much more

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20180611-the-health-risks-of-girls-maturing-early