“ARICA”

This piece is based upon a Caucasian girl, age 18

Her main quote: I’m sick of being taken advantage of because of being female.

Some of her other quotes:

• I don’t think there’s anything good about being a teenage girl, really.  I mean, I’ve had a horrible adolescence because nobody was helpin’ me out and I went through a lot of emotional stuff....and all I remember is all the bad stuff. 

• I feel like I’m utterly embarrassed of showing my art because I just think of it as so stupid and...I keep thinking it has a lot to do with getting raped because before then, I was okay with showing people my work, but after that, I haven’t been the same.

• I think that teenage girls should be made to feel beautiful, you know ‘cause a lot of times at that age, all these girls are like, “Oh shit, I’m fat, I’m ugly, nobody’s ever gonna want me.” A lot of the times they don’t feel very beautiful. 

• But I’m just sick of like the fact that over the years in a male-dominated society, they just referred to God as a “He” and that’s the way it’s always been and that’s the way that it’s going to be as long as nothing happens...it shuts women out...

• It’s like, “I feel hopeless,”  I feel like, “Oh God, I can never get anywhere as a woman because, you know, look at all these successful people that I look up to: they’re are all guys.” 

• I’m really proud of myself because I used to be heavy-set—I was a heavy-set gal...So I went on the “Subway Diet” and I exercised and I was, like, 170, and it worked and so now I’m 120.

• Models in magazines are all fake.  There’s a thing called "Photoshop".  Photoshop does wonders. And they get pounds and pounds of make-up put on their face.  And I really am sad that a lot of girls look at these magazines and go, “Oh crap, how the f*** could I ever be like that?” 

• You know a lot of people tell me that there are more virgins than I think and I just, like, recently found that out because a whole bunch of girls that I thought were sexually active are actually virgins...they feel so great about themselves that they don’t need to do anything like that...I should have been more like them.

• Do stuff for yourself, don’t care about what males think...don’t dress for them....don’t dress for anybody.  When it’s cold outside, wear a sweater, okay? 

• You know throughout the years women have been the things to look at, the things to be pretty, the things to be sexual...you know, it’s horrible.  You know I think like that.  You know, it’s caught me. 

• I want to be frickin’ confident of myself.  I have no self-esteem and, I mean, sometimes I may sound like it, but I really don’t...and I’m scared because I want to do things but I feel like I can’t.  I was thinking yesterday that I should just give up, like, having this dream and be, like, a  homemaker.  I’m scared.  I’m scared to death.  I feel like that’s all I’m good for.