If your teens watch "Sex and the City," the sex isn't the only thing you have to worry about.Virtually every teen girl interviewed as part of a new Health Department report on smoking said the show influenced their deadly habit.
"Whenever I think of how to smoke, it's the way Sarah Jessica Parker exhales, and I'm like obsessed," one 10th-grader said. "I love her, and the way she exhales is very memorable. She kind of ... elongates her neck and exhales into the air."
About 11% of teenagers smoke, according to the Health Department. The highest rates, about 35%, are among white girls.
Researchers ventured into a private high school and asked more than 30 middle and high school girls between the ages of 13 and 18 about smoking.
"Because smoking is a decision-making process at that age, we thought it would be interesting and important to find out how decisions get made," said Elizabeth Kilgore, a research scientist at the Health Department. "This does not represent all teenaged girls, but it's one more piece of the puzzle."
Some of the girls said they smoke because they think it makes them look sophisticated, while others say it helps them deal with stress. Some are afraid to stop because they think they will gain weight.
Kilgore said researchers were surprised to see how many girls view smoking as an accessory of sorts.
"It just goes with everything, you know, your perfectly polished hands," said an 11th-grader who smokes.
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Comments (3)
"It just goes with ever... (Below threshold)1. Posted by Old Coot | August 11, 2006 5:29 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
"It just goes with everything, you know, your perfectly polished hands,"
Closely followed by your brown-stained teeth, the hacking cough and, if you are lucky and don't first suffer a stroke....the oral cancer. Yeah, you know, it's really cool.
1. Posted by Old Coot | August 11, 2006 5:29 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on August 11, 2006 17:29
2. Posted by Dale | August 12, 2006 7:47 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Neal Boortz puts it well:
"Every high school and college-age male can tell you this, but young girls and women who smoke are much, much more sexually active than those who do not. If you're a young male and you're interested more in sex than you are in an actual relationship with someone, look for the woman with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth. It's almost a drop-dead guarantee that you can have her legs wrapped around your waist by the end of the evening unless you're covered with open, running sores or you smell like a Hezbollah bomb shelter."
2. Posted by Dale | August 12, 2006 7:47 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on August 12, 2006 07:47
3. Posted by JohnAnnArbor | August 14, 2006 12:56 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
I remember hearing how Sarah Jessica Parker (several years back) was upset when some 12-to-14-year-old girls came up to her and gushed about the show. She said that they were too young to watch. Well, duh, Sarah! Like it's realistic to expect the kids not to tune in HBO.
My question is, why have the characters smoke? And don't give me the "it's part of the character" crap. People from all walks of life are non-smokers, just as they are smokers.
3. Posted by JohnAnnArbor | August 14, 2006 12:56 PM |
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Posted on August 14, 2006 12:56