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    New research by UK charity finds girls' confidence and enjoyment in physical activity plummets as puberty begins
    United Kingdom

    New research by UK charity finds girls’ confidence and enjoyment in physical activity plummets as puberty begins

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    6 Comments

    1. Round-Spite-8119 on

      I don’t mean to “what about men”, but isn’t this essentially the universal experience of puberty and of your teenage years?

    2. poke50uk on

      Being in serious pain for a few days every 24 days absolutely took away my love of physical activity, and generally knocked all my self confidence when I was at school, always being worried about spills, just feeling crap most of the time because of the pain etc.

      I’m on some hormones now which pause everything, and absolutely LOVING LIFE. I really wish they would help teens with that choice when they are still young, rather than assuming if they are on this pill they are just there to have sex. It’s been a game changer, just a shame I’m near my 40s before I found out. I run every day now, I’m getting really into cycling, turns out it’s much easier to sport when the only recovery is from the activity itself rather than the monthly gut punch.

    3. antbaby_machetesquad on

      I wonder if there’s a marked difference between mixed schools and all girls schools. If so it would help identify whether it’s an intrinsic issue with puberty e.g. concerns about leaking/showing, increased awareness of embarrassment, etc. Or if it’s related to gender stereotypes relating to perceived attractive traits.

    4. SuchEye4866 on

      I hated moving at speed, mainly after my chest came in. Not really anything I could do about that. Afaik, we still don’t have antigravity bras for the excessively endowed. Rest assured that having DDs at 15 was not a confidence boost and made running forever uncomfortable and physically embarrassing. And that’s just one person’s experience at an all girls secondary school.

    5. Much-Tadpole-3742 on

      well yes..when we hit puberty we go from playing with toy cars to trying to get our dick wet…if course it’s the same for women as well

    6. YeetusThatFoetus1 on

      Can’t speak for everyone but in both high school and primary school girls were treated as essentially being disabled by default, in the context of PE lessons, compared to boys. Even before puberty hit, we were given different exercises to do, and in the event we had the same exercise, girls were told to do fewer reps. We were constantly given the message that we were worthless and it was a waste of time even having us in that space.