WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.000
[music]

00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:29.999
[music]

00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:34.999
The first time your parents called you a big girl was when you
were just about three and made PP in the party all on your own.

00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:39.999
[music]

00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:44.999
The second time, was the day you rode
your bike without the training wheels.

00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:49.999
[music]

00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:54.999
But one of the weirdest moments in a girl’s
life is when your mom explains all emotional,

00:00:55.000 --> 00:01:00.000
”You’re a big girl now.” When
she sees you in your first bra.

00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:09.999
[music]

00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:14.999
There is no indication that Cami
would go into puberty early,

00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:19.999
when she was only nine. Absolutely
no warning signs, nothing.

00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:24.999
In fact, she was very slender. She didn’t have much
shape at all. She was… She was still a little girl.

00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:33.000
[music]

00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:39.999
In elementary school, I was like an alien. I didn’t
fit the image that the other girls had to themselves.

00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:44.999
I didn’t see myself as
being all that different.

00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:49.999
I didn’t understand what was happening to me until
as I got older, I realized I have more of a figure.

00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:58.000
[sil.]

00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:09.999
[music]

00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:14.999
When she was nine,

00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:19.999
Éve-Marie had a huge girl spread over the
summer. Then, one day she came home,

00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:24.999
and she said she’d been playing ball at
school and had gotten some kind of bump.

00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:29.999
We were concerned and we wondered what it
was. So, the next day we went to the clinic.

00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:34.999
The doctor kind of laughed at me and she
said, “Well, it’s perfectly normal.

00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:39.999
It’s her breasts developing.” And she’s
just turned nine the week before.

00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:44.999
[music]

00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:49.999
I’ve had this since I was two or three.

00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:54.999
It is mended everywhere.

00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:59.999
Every single seem has been resown.

00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:04.999
Why do you keep it? Because I don’t wanna
forget that part of me, my childhood.

00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:09.999
When my body started changing,

00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:14.999
I felt gross. As a person, you
realize that you’re human,

00:03:15.000 --> 00:03:19.999
that you are alive and breathing,
that you have thoughts,

00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:24.999
and heart. You’ve known that from
the time you were (inaudible).

00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:29.999
But this! What is this?

00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:34.999
[music]

00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:39.999
In 1997,

00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:44.999
a study of over 17,000 American girls found that
the age of onset of puberty was plummeting.

00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:49.999
According to the study led by Dr.
Marcia Herman-Giddens,

00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:54.999
girls were exhibiting the first signs of
puberty up to six months earlier than before.

00:03:55.000 --> 00:03:59.999
These findings intrigued the
international scientific community,

00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:04.999
given that puberty lasts an average of
four years, six months is significant.

00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:10.000
[music]

00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:19.999
I think that it’s very difficult
to understand all the reasons

00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:24.999
of earlier onset of puberty that are occurring
in children, particularly among girls.

00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:29.999
Our center is one of three that are in the
breast cancer and the research programs

00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:34.999
that are scattered across United States, in New York
City, Cincinnati, and in the Bay Area, San Francisco.

00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:39.999
So, we wanted to study the girls at ages six and
seven, because we wanted to try to catch them

00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:44.999
before they started going
into the process of puberty.

00:04:45.000 --> 00:04:49.999
But we found that several of the seven-year-old
girls already had gone into puberty.

00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:54.999
[sil.]

00:04:55.000 --> 00:04:59.999
Girls have always gone into puberty earlier than boys, and
the disparity seen in the schoolyard can be striking.

00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:04.999
When the sex hormones

00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:09.999
begin to kick in, they stir up such a massive
physical and psychological symptoms,

00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:14.999
it can make your head spin.

00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:23.000
[music]

00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:34.999
Going into puberty earlier is associated
with greater risk of obesity.

00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:39.999
Going into puberty earlier is related to a
greater risk of developing insulin resistance

00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:44.999
and potentially Type 2
diabetes and heart disease.

00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:53.000
[music]

00:05:55.000 --> 00:05:59.999
[non-English narration]

00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:04.999
When I was in grade three, I started getting
breasts. And then about a week after

00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:09.999
I turned ten, I got by period. I went to see
my mom, because I didn’t know what it was.

00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:14.999
I said, “What is this?” And she said,
“Well, you are a big girl now.”

00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:23.000
[music]

00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:34.999
I think it was around eight,
when I went into puberty.

00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:39.999
I started to get pubic hair.

00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:44.999
But puberty really set in
when I was nine or ten.

00:06:45.000 --> 00:06:49.999
It’s when I got my first period and when
my breasts and hips started to develop.

00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:54.999
[non-English narration]

00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:59.999
I remember in sex education classes
in grade five, so when I was ten,

00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:04.999
the teacher asked if there were any
girls who started their period.

00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:09.999
And I was the only one to raise my hand.

00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:18.000
[music]

00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:24.999
I was in grade four when
I got my first period.

00:07:25.000 --> 00:07:29.999
It was the last day of school. After
that, it was the summer break.

00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:34.999
In happened on a Friday. I was
a little pissed off and then,

00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:39.999
at first I was proud. When it happened, I thought, wow, I’m becoming
a women, but then the hamster wheel in my head started spinning,

00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:44.999
and then a bunch more started spinning,
and you realize it’s time to grow up,

00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:49.999
you don’t have a choice,
there’s nothing you can do.

00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:58.000
[music]

00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:04.999
I got my first period fairly early.
I was ten.

00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:09.999
I didn’t understand why it was happening
so soon. It was like a stroke of bad luck.

00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:14.999
I thought it was too soon.

00:08:15.000 --> 00:08:19.999
I wasn’t ready yet,
psychologically or physically.

00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:24.999
I wanted to be at the same stage
as the other girls at my school.

00:08:25.000 --> 00:08:33.000
[music]

00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:39.999
We should start addressing the topic
of sexuality in early childhood.

00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:44.999
People tend to wait for puberty to hit

00:08:45.000 --> 00:08:49.999
before talking to kids about it.
Instead we should be warning them,

00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:54.999
informing them, start them
thinking about what’s coming.

00:08:55.000 --> 00:09:03.000
[music]

00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:09.999
I don’t think the color of my skin was ever a
problem when I was growing up. On a physical level,

00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:14.999
I associated my being different with my body, because
the other little girls were mostly very slim,

00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:19.999
very small. And even though
I don’t have a large build,

00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:24.999
I did develop hips, curves,
and breasts much quicker.

00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:29.999
So I had a much more developed body than
the other girls, who were really little.

00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:34.999
And I remember that back then, crop tops
were in. I went over to a friend’s house,

00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:39.999
a girl of my age who asked me, “Why
don’t you wear the same tops we wear?”

00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:44.999
”Don’t you want to be in style?” But I was
too embarrassed to wear crop tops back then,

00:09:45.000 --> 00:09:49.999
because they call too much
attention to my body.

00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:58.000
[music]

00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:04.999
Do you remember when you got your period?

00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:09.999
It became very obvious at that point
that she was uneasy about it all,

00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:14.999
because she denied it. I’d say, “Cami,
I found your stained underwear!”

00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:19.999
And she’d say, “No, no, no! It’s
all right!” And I told her,

00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:24.999
”I think it’s your period?” “No! I don’t
think so! It was just an accident.”

00:10:25.000 --> 00:10:29.999
But at the same time, you don’t
want to hurt her or rush her,

00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:34.999
you want her to accept it.

00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:39.999
I didn’t want it. It was in
conceivable for me not to be normal.

00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:44.999
At that age, you just want to be normal.
You just want to be accepted.

00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:49.999
And that was just further proof that I wasn’t normal. I
thought I’d be even more of an outcast if people found out.

00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:54.999
I want it to stop. I thought
I’d be premenopausal.

00:10:55.000 --> 00:10:59.999
It’s true. I thought menopause
would arrive the next day.

00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:04.999
[music]

00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:09.999
Many studies

00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:14.999
have looked at the difference by race and
ethnicity. And so that we know, for example,

00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:19.999
in the United States that African-American
girls mature before white girls do.

00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:24.999
Girls who are Hispanic, mature sometime

00:11:25.000 --> 00:11:29.999
between those two groups. And girls who are Asian,
mature a little bit behind those two groups.

00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:38.000
[music]

00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:44.999
Over the last half century, the age of first
menstruation has dropped by a few months.

00:11:45.000 --> 00:11:49.999
Better public health and a more varied
diet probably account for the change.

00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:54.999
But is our new lifestyle really healthier
than it was before? Lack of exercise,

00:11:55.000 --> 00:11:59.999
stress, diets that are too high in sugar and salt, and a wide
variety of food addictives have all become threats to our health.

00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:04.999
[music]

00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:09.999
Obesity has become a worldwide epidemic,

00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:14.999
and young people are its first victims. In
the United States, one in every three girls

00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:19.999
is overweight. That’s why researchers are
trying to find out if obesity is a factor

00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:24.999
in the early onset of puberty.

00:12:25.000 --> 00:12:29.999
[music]

00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:34.999
Girls who are a little bit heavier, will
sometimes have some fat tissue on their chest,

00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:39.999
as they have in other places of their body.
And so one of the important things

00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:44.999
is to feel whether or not there is glandular tissue,
there’s actual tissue in the breast rather than just fat.

00:12:45.000 --> 00:12:49.999
And so, the best way to do
breast maturation assessment

00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:54.999
is to do both looking at it, visualization,
as well as palpation to make sure

00:12:55.000 --> 00:12:59.999
that it is tissue and
not just fatty tissue.

00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:04.999
We looked at the girls who were obese, we
looked at the girls who were non-obese,

00:13:05.000 --> 00:13:09.999
and what we found was
that our girls overall

00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:14.999
were maturing before the girls that
were studied by Herman-Giddens,

00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:20.000
and the girls who were obese, matured even
before the rest of the girls in our study.

00:13:25.000 --> 00:13:29.999
European scientists are also
examining early puberty.

00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:34.999
Begun in 2006, the Copenhagen Puberty Study has been one
of the most important research projects on the topic.

00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:39.999
In 1997, when the US studies

00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:44.999
by Marcia Herman-Giddens were published
showing these marker changes

00:13:45.000 --> 00:13:49.999
among US children with early breast
development, we were quite surprised.

00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:54.999
It has to be the obesity epidemic from US

00:13:55.000 --> 00:13:59.999
that had crossed the Atlantic now,
heading Northern Europe and Denmark.

00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:04.999
But actually, the girls that we looked
at in our study, they were lean,

00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:09.999
they were… We did not include
obese girls in this study.

00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:14.999
Their average BMI was very normal,
and it was exactly the same as

00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:19.999
that of the girls 15 years ago.

00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:24.999
We observed that breast
development occurred

00:14:25.000 --> 00:14:29.999
12 months earlier, that was
the big surprise to us.

00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:34.999
When we did the similar statistics to looking
at the age at which you had your first period,

00:14:35.000 --> 00:14:39.999
what we call menarche, that had also…

00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:44.999
that also occurred earlier,
but only by four months.

00:14:45.000 --> 00:14:49.999
It seemed as if breast development
started one year earlier, but periods,

00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:54.999
which is a late marker of puberty,
occurred only four months earlier.

00:14:55.000 --> 00:14:59.999
So, it looks as if the period of
puberty was sort of extended.

00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:08.000
[music]

00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:14.999
Female hormones are mainly produced by the ovaries.
We’re talking about estrogen and progesterone.

00:15:15.000 --> 00:15:19.999
Researchers are concerned that prolonged
exposure to these hormones could lead

00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:24.999
to an increase in certain types
of cancer in the long term.

00:15:25.000 --> 00:15:29.999
In women, we’re talking
about breast cancer,

00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:34.999
and possibly ovarian cancer. But, so far,

00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:39.999
it has yet to be proven.

00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:44.999
If a mother has early puberty, there is a
big chance that her daughter will also

00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:49.999
enter puberty early. So
clearly genes are important.

00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:54.999
But they cannot explain these changes
that we observed over just two decades,

00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:59.999
over just 15 years, that
has to be something else.

00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:08.000
[music]

00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:14.999
I said to myself, “My god, why is it happening
so early? Was it something in her food?

00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:19.999
Are we doing things differently than our parents
did, back in the day, when we were young?”

00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:24.999
Because I didn’t hit puberty at that
age, I was more like 13 or 14 years old.

00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:33.000
[music]

00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:44.999
My grandma got her period when she was nine, like Sandrine.
She was always playing outside with the little boys,

00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:49.999
they were her friends, and
then bang, she got her period.

00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:54.999
And her mother said, “You’re
not allowed outside anymore!

00:16:55.000 --> 00:16:59.999
You’ll catch a baby!” “Catch a baby?
That’s crazy!” I got my period at 13.

00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:04.999
You were in grade seven, I think?
Yeah, the end of grade seven.

00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:09.999
I was in grade four. Grade
four, that’s just not fair.

00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:14.999
It was three months after you. I remember, I was at
grandma’s, and she freaked out, because I was way too young.

00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:19.999
[sil.]

00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:24.999
And you were hairy? At first we were
told not to shave, shaving is bad.

00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:29.999
Mum said, “No, you mustn’t shave. It’s just
gonna make those nasty hair stronger.”

00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:34.999
Body hair was like this demon that had to be
defeated. And you’re not supposed to shave.

00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:39.999
You’re supposed to wax.

00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:44.999
Body hair is there to
filter and to protect.

00:17:45.000 --> 00:17:49.999
There is a protective element to it. Of course, kids are
going to giggle about it when it comes up in the classroom.

00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:54.999
But all the same, it’s important
to say the words out loud.

00:17:55.000 --> 00:18:03.000
[music]

00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:14.999
Styles change with the times,
and body hair is no exception.

00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:19.999
Today it’s so unpopular that the worldwide market for
hair removal products is close to $5 billion a year.

00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:24.999
[music]

00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:29.999
Yet the war against body hair
is purely for esthetic reasons.

00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:38.000
[music]

00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:49.999
We now think that there are
environmental disruptors.

00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:54.999
These environmental disruptors
are, for the most part,

00:18:55.000 --> 00:18:59.999
either man-made chemical agents

00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:04.999
or natural substances found in some plants.

00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:09.999
Consuming or being exposed to these
substances, may lead to earlier changes,

00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:14.999
because they interfere with the
process that brings on puberty.

00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:23.000
[music]

00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:34.999
Endocrine disruptors are present
in many consumer products,

00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:39.999
from furniture stuffing to fragrance
and cosmetics and household products,

00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:44.999
as well as plastics made from phthalates.

00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:49.999
While not all of their effects
have been identified,

00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:54.999
we do know that children are
particularly sensitive.

00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:59.999
In 2008, Canada was the first country
to ban Bisphenol A in baby bottles.

00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:04.999
Since then, hundreds of thousands of baby bottles
have been taken off the market worldwide.

00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:09.999
However, many other endocrine
disruptors are still in use.

00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:14.999
[music]

00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:19.999
And we found that those girls with the
highest phthalate exposure, in urine,

00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:24.999
that they had significantly
later pubic hair development.

00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:29.999
So that was a big surprise
to us, but it makes,

00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:34.999
from a biological point of view, sense.

00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:39.999
Endocrine disruptors send false signals to the various sex
hormones, which are in part responsible for breast development

00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:44.999
and the onset of menstruation.

00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:49.999
The order in which science of
puberty appear has been scrambled,

00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:54.999
some science now appear
earlier, others later.

00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:59.999
[music]

00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:04.999
There are several researchers, who
now feel that these phthalates

00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:09.999
may also represent a group of
chemicals called obesogens.

00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:14.999
And these chemicals lead to some of the
metabolic chances associated with obesity,

00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:19.999
so that the body becomes less
sensitive to the effect of insulin,

00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:24.999
the fat cells start storing
the energy preferentially,

00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:29.999
and that the progenitor cells

00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:34.999
get to be predisposed to become fast cells
rather than becoming other cells in the body.

00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:39.999
And so, there is growing evidence in
animal studies that suggest that these

00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:44.999
obesogens maybe both causing part of the

00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:49.999
obesity epidemic as well as causing some
of these earlier changes in puberty.

00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:54.999
In North Carolina, a team of
biologists are studying the effects

00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:59.999
of endocrine disruptors on rats. They are
observing the effects in the rodents’ brains.

00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.999
[sil.]

00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:09.999
In a rat, we can control a lot of different variables
in the environment. We can control the diet.

00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:14.999
We can control their body
weight to a large degree.

00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:19.999
We can control external stresses and just expose them to that
compound and ask very specific questions about when in development

00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.999
does exposure predict early puberty
and how it actually occurs.

00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.999
I’m a mother. I have a fifth grader. I see all
the girls with early puberty in her class.

00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:34.999
I see it all the time. I wanna understand how
that’s happening and I wanna understand why.

00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:39.999
We have found that if we
expose rats to Bisphenol A

00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:48.000
or other endocrine disruptors, right after birth, we
can get them to go through early puberty. That one!

00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:54.999
And there’s a conversation between physicians,
epidemiologists, basic research scientists,

00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.999
people who work with a variety of
animal systems to try and understand

00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.999
if what we see in the animal model maybe
predictive of what’s happening in humans.

00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:09.999
Remember most of these chemicals that
we’re studying have been introduced

00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:14.999
into human society over the
past five or six decades.

00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.999
And we’ve introduced hundreds and hundreds
of chemicals in that time period.

00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:24.999
So, it’s difficult to know the contribution
of each of these different chemicals.

00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.999
If these effects are being
caused by man-made products,

00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.999
let’s tackle the problem and see if we can find
substitutes, or minimize exposure to these products

00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.999
so that young girls no longer exhibit
these partial signs of puberty.

00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:48.000
[music]

00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.999
At school, if I had a mood swing

00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.999
or was a little more sensitive or whatever,
my classmates and friends would be like,

00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:09.999
”Marie has PMS, PMS!” It was like
a dirty word that was fun to say.

00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:18.000
[music]

00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:29.999
We often see rejection by the peer group.
When someone is different,

00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.999
they are often pushed away. This sort of
change is upsetting for a young girl.

00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.999
She may lose her friends or people
may talk to her differently

00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.999
or she may not be invited to things.
Obviously, she may then experience

00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.999
anxiety, depression, and loneliness.

00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:58.000
[music]

00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.999
Before I went into grade six, I would
get bullied in the schoolyard.

00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.999
They’d throw things at me. I got beat up at the
back of the schoolyard by a gang of girls.

00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.999
It wasn’t fun at all. I
was the biggest outcast,

00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.999
because I looked older and because I was purveyor than
everyone else. They would insult me for not being like them.

00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
[music]

00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:34.999
Basically I was as much of a child as
they were. I had the same interests,

00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:39.999
watched the same shows, did exactly the same
things. Just because my body had changed,

00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.999
didn’t mean that I had changed as a person.

00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.999
It leaves a mark, because I’ve had
trouble making friends and still do.

00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:54.999
I don’t see myself as someone
who makes friends easily like,

00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:59.999
I’m very confident in interviews because I know I’ll
be able to do the job. But in terms of relationships,

00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:04.999
even though I’m the kind of person
who talks a lot to everyone,

00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:09.999
I’m always scared of being rejected. I know I’ll always have that fear
of rejection, because that’s what I experienced throughout my childhood.

00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.999
That will never go away,
no matter what happens.

00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:19.999
My self-esteem will never
be as solid as someone

00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:24.999
who had happy, problem-free childhood.

00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:33.000
[music]

00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:24.999
I like two boys, Vincent and John
Sebastian, but that will never happen.

00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:29.999
He is way too old, too bad. No,
it’s not true. I don’t like him.

00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:34.999
I made it up. Vincent is Evelyn’s brother,

00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:39.999
and she’s my best friend. School
starts tomorrow. It sucks.

00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:44.999
It’s deep stuff.

00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:49.999
We’re attracted to boys too.
We start having desires.

00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:54.999
We want to kiss. We want to touch. We
want to be touched, not in a sexual way,

00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:59.999
but in an affectionate way. We want to be looked
at and admired. I think that’s part of it.

00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:04.999
There is an attraction all of a sudden. We
want to be seen, to be visible, that’s it.

00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:09.999
I started to want to be admired.
I wanted people to look at me.

00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:14.999
I wanted boys to show interest in me.

00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:19.999
I think, I like John Philip, but
he has lots of girlfriends.

00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:24.999
He’s nice and kind and he listens to us. He
is a sweetheart. I get good grades after all.

00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:29.999
No, I can’t like him. He’s way too popular.

00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.999
And I think the hottest
girl in school likes him.

00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:39.999
[music]

00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:44.999
There are boys who think I’m
more attractive, because,

00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:49.999
well, in my school the girls are all
flat-chested, I’m more developed than they are.

00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:54.999
And it doesn’t affect my life at all.
I have a boyfriend.

00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:59.999
We text each other. At night,
I’ll say good night, I love you.

00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:04.999
And he’ll say, you too,
and he’ll send me hearts.

00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:09.999
I’m taller than he is, about a head taller,

00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:14.999
maybe a head-and-a-half or two.

00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:19.999
[non-English narration]

00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:24.999
We’ve been in situations where
boys who are 17, 18, even 19,

00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:29.999
will come up to her, and they’ll say,
“Oh, she’s just 12 or she’s just 11!”

00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:34.999
People are taken aback. They’ll say,
“Really!” Yes, I know how old she is.

00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:39.999
That’s a little worrying, because the
girls never give it a second thought.

00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.999
Like most of us, they aren’t necessarily aware of
the image they project and the messages they send.

00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:49.999
We have to explain some things about life,
that we’d rather not have to discuss

00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:54.999
when they’re only nine or ten.

00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:59.999
[music]

00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.999
Even then I didn’t have a child’s body,

00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:09.999
I ended up maturing a little faster too. My
mother encouraged me to play kids’ games,

00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:14.999
so that I could hold on to my
childhood a little longer.

00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:19.999
[music]

00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:24.999
Just because they reached a
certain stage of puberty,

00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:29.999
it doesn’t mean that young girls are
going to rush to use their new bodies.

00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:34.999
But parents often fear there will be early
sexual activity and fear the consequences,

00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:39.999
namely unwanted pregnancy, and
sexually transmitted diseases,

00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.999
that is obviously a major
concern for parents.

00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:49.999
Young girls who through early on said,

00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:54.999
puberty maybe a greater risk, because
older boys will be interested in them.

00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:59.999
And older boys may not have the same expectations
as these young girls do, with respect to

00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.999
sexuality and relationships.

00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:09.999
[non-English narration]

00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:14.999
Having a body that was more developed than
that of a nine or a ten-year-old girl,

00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:19.999
I was instinctively and automatically
drawn to people who resembled me,

00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.999
which meant people who
are considerably older.

00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:29.999
[sil.]

00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:34.999
I became sexually active at 13 which
is young, because I was curious.

00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:39.999
Yes, my body might have been ready,
but my head wasn’t ready at all.

00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:44.999
I realized, as I got older,
that it was much too early,

00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:49.999
because psychologically speaking, I wasn’t
ready. And that’s the misfortune of young girls

00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:54.999
who hit puberty too early. Physically, these
girls are ready for sexual experiences.

00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:59.999
We have the urge that goes along with it.
But psychologically,

00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.999
we’re not ready, because we’re also still little
girls. We’re like the other kids at school with us.

00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:09.999
We need to stay at first space,
playing spin the bottle,

00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:14.999
French kissing, holding hands, putting your
hand in the popcorn at the movies, whatever.

00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:19.999
It’s better to stick to the
preliminaries, I think.

00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:24.999
We shouldn’t move to the next step,
because we don’t know our bodies yet.

00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:29.999
And in terms of sexuality, it’s important to
know your body in order to appreciate it,

00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:34.999
otherwise you don’t
understand what’s happening.

00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:43.000
[music]

00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:54.999
I think it was 10, going on 11, it was
summer, I was with my girlfriend.

00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:59.999
And there was this boy, who
was a little hazy, but he was

00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:04.999
16 or 17. He was very sexually aware.

00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:09.999
And he had, not necessarily a power
over me, because he was older,

00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:14.999
but he knew what he was doing.

00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:19.999
It wasn’t two kids playing
doctor, you know.

00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:24.999
And when my friend left,

00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:29.999
he asked if I want to stay with him. He said, “Well,
I built a shack with my friends in the woods.

00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:34.999
You wanna see it? It’s cool!
We could talk.”

00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:39.999
And since I was naive, seeking
approval, he could appease.

00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:44.999
I said, “Okay, let’s go.”

00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:49.999
[sil.]

00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:54.999
Once we were there, he
said, “Oh, you’re so cute.

00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:59.999
You must have kissed a boy already.” And
I couldn’t admit the truth, so I said,

00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:04.999
”Oh yeah, yeah.”

00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:09.999
And that’s all it took for him to grab me by
the waist and shove his tongue down my throat.

00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:14.999
From that moment on, I just froze.

00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:19.999
And then the rest of the assault,

00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:24.999
if you will.

00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:29.999
Actually, it was my fault, because I
followed him. I never asked myself,

00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:34.999
if what he was doing was right
or not, because it was up to me

00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:39.999
to not follow him into the woods.

00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:44.999
So I never told anyone.

00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:49.999
[music]

00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:54.999
In my mind I decided that

00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:59.999
my first sexual experience was at 17.
I wanted to erase the one at 13,

00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:04.999
because it wasn’t positive. I think I
was used. I was manipulated in a way.

00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:09.999
I wasn’t raped, but I
was used, all the same.

00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:14.999
I have a family who loves me. I had a great
childhood and always felt supported.

00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:19.999
So you can erase all that from
your mind and start over.

00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.999
But it can go the other way too.

00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:29.999
I reacted differently
from the way other girls

00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:34.999
who’ve been assaulted might react.

00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:39.999
It was a free for fall in the
sense that I became hypersexual.

00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:44.999
And it wasn’t long before I had sex

00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:49.999
for the first time willingly,
and then on and on.

00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:54.999
And I convinced myself that if I wanted
to fulfill my need to please boys or men,

00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.999
I had to use my sexuality.

00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.999
[music]

00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:09.999
I think we need to address all
the issues related to body image

00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.999
and changes to body image,
particularly in young girls.

00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.999
It’s important to begin dealing with the issue
of female objectification and to show girls

00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.999
that they have value and worth
over and above their bodies.

00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:29.999
Of course, looking good is important.

00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:34.999
The first thing you notice about a person is their physical
appearance. We shouldn’t deny the importance of wanting to be pretty,

00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:39.999
but the problem is, when
that becomes central,

00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:44.999
when that’s all there is. We have to
help girls build their identities,

00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:49.999
using every aspect of what a person is.

00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:54.999
[non-English narration]

00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:59.999
I think self-confidence is essential
for moving forward in life.

00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:04.999
And acting the way I did, giving blow
jobs at the age of nine and ten,

00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:09.999
having sex at 12,

00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:14.999
flaunting my sexuality at a very
young age, has a greater impact

00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.999
on the rest of your life and on the
choices you make than you might think.

00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:28.000
[music]

00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:54.999
Half the children aged six
to 15, turn to the internet

00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.999
rather than their parents when
seeking answers to their questions.

00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:08.000
[music]

00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:29.999
Our young girls don’t have

00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.999
the emotional maturity to properly analyze
advertising, music videos and so on.

00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:39.999
That’s why our children need adults,
who are sensitive and consistent,

00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:44.999
who’ll help them sharpen their critical
thinking skills and serve as role models,

00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:49.999
both male and female that
will allow them to experience

00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:54.999
their adolescence and
puberty in a healthy way.

00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:59.999
[music]

00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:04.999
How old was I? I don’t know.
Ten or 11 maybe.

00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:09.999
At a certain point, I became curious.

00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:14.999
So I decided to get answers to my questions
as easily and quickly as I could,

00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:19.999
by going online.

00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.999
Everyone has the internet now and it’s incredibly
easy to find whatever you are looking for.

00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:29.999
So I went to check this sex stuff
out, because it peaked my curiosity.

00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.999
I don’t know what I typed
into the search engine,

00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:39.999
but I came across a short
video, with two Barbie dolls

00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:44.999
performing sexual acts.

00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:49.999
And it traumatized me.

00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:54.999
[music]

00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:59.999
I must have been 10 or 11. You remember? I was always
online. Yeah. You chatted with a lot of people.

00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:04.999
So I typed, I’m looking for friends
to talk to, and I think I even wrote

00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:09.999
that I was a girl, girl looking for
friends to talk to, with my MSN

00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:14.999
or something like that.

00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:19.999
So, people contacted me.

00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:24.999
We started chat. I’d say, “Hi, how are you?

00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:29.999
What’s your favorite
color?” Very naive things.

00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:34.999
And the guy would say, I’m good, I
live, wherever. Do you have a webcam?

00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:39.999
And it would with or
some would ask directly,

00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:44.999
when will the panties come off.

00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:49.999
Show me your boobs.

00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:54.999
If someone had been a little more
subtle, “You might have.” If he’d said,

00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:59.999
”I just wanna see what color
your underwear is, Sandrine.”

00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:04.999
But you’ve had confidence in yourself. Even though you
were hung up on certain things, you’d nothing to prove.

00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:09.999
You didn’t need to seduce people to get their
approval. You hang up so more to do with yourself.

00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:14.999
If I got hit on, I would say,
hah, I’m getting hit on.

00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:19.999
I know, you took it as a
complement and moved on.

00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:28.000
[music]

00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:34.999
With the combination of early puberty and social
networks, there is a real need to educate young girls.

00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:39.999
[music]

00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:44.999
Some young girls will upload
photos of themselves,

00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:49.999
that can be very seductive. We have to get them
to think about the significance of those images,

00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:54.999
and of their words, to see how
these are likely to be interpreted

00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:59.999
by other young girls and by boys.

00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:08.000
[music]

00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:14.999
I think it’s still hard to talk about
sexuality in a preventive way.

00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:19.999
There are lot of misconceptions,

00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:24.999
people who say, if we talk
about puberty, sexuality,

00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:29.999
pregnancy and condoms, that
will just encourage them.

00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:34.999
[sil.]

00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:39.999
There was no sex education at my school.
Just one workshop,

00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:44.999
where we talked about contraception and
menstruation. I was in grade six, I remember.

00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:49.999
They told us about condoms, tampons,
sanitary pads, that kind of thing.

00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:54.999
They wanted to give us an overview,

00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:59.999
open our eyes to what happens when
you reach adolescence, I guess.

00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:04.999
So, yes, I was able to learn a thing or two
then, but it was just a one-day workshop.

00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:09.999
I don’t remember much, just the basics.

00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:14.999
[sil.]

00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:19.999
What makes it difficult to discuss puberty in the classroom
is that people are sometimes afraid of going too far.

00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:24.999
What I hear in my schools is that, it’s harder
to talk about the psychological changes

00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:29.999
related to puberty than to talk
about the physical changes.

00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:34.999
Physical changes are just biology.
People say these are the facts,

00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:39.999
that’s the way it is, and
you can’t get away from it.

00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:44.999
But psychological changes in adolescence
can vary from one child to another.

00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:49.999
I would have liked to learn more in school,

00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:54.999
to talk about men and women
and what they really feel.

00:43:55.000 --> 00:43:59.999
Because, ever since I was young,
what I’ve learned from the internet

00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:04.999
and television, is that
men have no emotions,

00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:09.999
they just want to get laid, that’s it.

00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:14.999
It’s still like that. I’m scared
the guy only wants me for sex.

00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:23.000
[sil.]

00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:34.999
I met my boyfriend when I was 14. It was hard
at first. We started dating when I was 14,

00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:39.999
but I broke up with him twice. A real
relationship started when I was 15.

00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:44.999
And we’ve now been together four and a half years.
He really helped me get through high school,

00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:49.999
and with my self-esteem. I
didn’t think I was pretty,

00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:54.999
didn’t think I could have a boyfriend.

00:44:55.000 --> 00:44:59.999
I wasn’t comfortable with who I
was, not in terms of my body,

00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:04.999
or my personality. He is the one who helped me understand
myself better and learn how to live with myself.

00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:09.999
Yeah, it took a long time.
It wasn’t easy for him.

00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:14.999
I didn’t understand why anyone
would be interested in me.

00:45:15.000 --> 00:45:19.999
I was convinced that it was never gonna
work. But he was really patient with me

00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:24.999
and he helped me to
better understand myself.

00:45:25.000 --> 00:45:33.000
[music]

00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:54.999
I’ve come a long way in the
last two years, because I think

00:45:55.000 --> 00:45:59.999
I hit rock-bottom in the
whole area of sexuality,

00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:04.999
as a result of all the choices I made.

00:46:05.000 --> 00:46:09.999
Then I took an eight-week therapy program

00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:14.999
at a psychiatric hospital, and it’s
not because I was crazy or anything.

00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:19.999
The therapy was designed to
teach you to love yourself.

00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:24.999
[sil.]

00:46:25.000 --> 00:46:29.999
Puberty lasts several years.
It can start at nine

00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:34.999
and go to 14. That’s a long time
for a girl, and she deserves

00:46:35.000 --> 00:46:39.999
to be supported along the way. I think we need
to acknowledge how important a process it is.

00:46:40.000 --> 00:46:44.999
I think the main concern from a

00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:49.999
scientific point of view or as a
society, it should probably be

00:46:50.000 --> 00:46:54.999
that something is hitting our
children, something is changing

00:46:55.000 --> 00:46:59.999
and it’s changing rapidly. They are
having breasts one year earlier

00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:04.999
than just 20 years ago, and
we simply don’t know why.

00:47:05.000 --> 00:47:09.999
We don’t know which agents
or which lifestyles

00:47:10.000 --> 00:47:14.999
that is responsible for this. And
I think this is calls for action.

00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:23.000
[music]

00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:29.999
Let’s hope that researchers soon discover what causes
early puberty, so that girls who experience it

00:47:30.000 --> 00:47:34.999
can get the help and understand they need.

00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:39.999
[sil.]

00:47:40.000 --> 00:47:48.000
[music]

00:48:05.000 --> 00:48:09.999
Before I never used to say, “Yes,
I like what I’m wearing today.

00:48:10.000 --> 00:48:14.999
I look good in it.” Things have gotten better though. I
know when I put this shirt on, then it looks good on me.

00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:19.999
I’ve been told that it brings out my eyes.
Feeling pretty, feels good.

00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:28.000
[music]

00:49:05.000 --> 00:49:09.999
Unfortunately, I think my childhood went by
too quickly. And maybe, it’s partly my fault.

00:49:10.000 --> 00:49:14.999
I maybe tried to grow up too fast, because I
sort of had the option of growing up faster.

00:49:15.000 --> 00:49:19.999
When you’re young, you always
wish you were 16 or 18.

00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:24.999
When you’re 12, you wanna be 16, because
being 16 is amazing, but it’s not.

00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:29.999
Now, I think my favorite was when I was 12. I’d
like to be that age again. It went by too fast.

00:49:30.000 --> 00:49:38.000
[music]

00:51:30.000 --> 00:51:38.000
[music]