Teenagers, Trends & #proudrandi — Where Empowerment Ends and Psychology Begins

I feel genuinely sad seeing how easily we forget teenagers when we celebrate social-media trends.

Adults debate freedom, empowerment, reclaiming words — but adolescents are quietly standing in the background, absorbing everything without filters.

The latest example is the hashtag #proudrandi.

What are you even thinking?

I understand one thing clearly — an adult may choose to reclaim a slur. With maturity, lived experience, and solid boundaries, someone can decide, “This word will not define me anymore.” For some adults, that can feel powerful.

But what about a 14- or 16-year-old?

Who needs to explore “who am I” — not through Instagram, but through real life.

Teen Years Are a Construction Site

Adolescence is not a finished personality. It is a construction site where:

• self-respect is being formed,

• boundaries are being learned,

• the brain itself is still developing.

When a degrading sexual word is packaged as “empowerment,” a teenager doesn’t reclaim it — she internalizes it. The silent messages become:

• attention = value

• boldness = worth

• sexuality = identity

And slowly, dignity becomes optional.

Some things are not about morality — they are about psychology.

What I See in My Therapy Room

As a psychologist, I meet teenagers who already struggle with:

• confusing attention with love,

• believing boundaries make them “boring,”

• thinking they must perform sexuality to be accepted,

• feeling empty once the likes disappear.

Trends like this don’t liberate them — they push them deeper into confusion about who they are.

And there is another uncomfortable truth:

hyper-sexual labels on minor profiles often become invitations for predators. Grooming rarely begins with force; it begins with blurred lines that society has already normalized.

Empowerment vs Objectification

Real empowerment should expand a teenager’s world —

not shrink her to a single provocative identity.

Empowerment sounds like:

• “I am more than how I appear online.”

• “My worth doesn’t need shock value.”

• “I can be bold without degrading myself.”

Objectification sounds like:

• “I must be sexual to be visible.”

• “The more extreme I look, the more I matter.”

These are very different psychological pathways.

Freedom Needs Developmental Responsibility

Freedom of expression is important — I respect that.

But developmental responsibility is more important.

Before romanticizing every radical trend, we need to ask:

Is this making our teenagers stronger — or just louder?

Is it giving them identity — or selling them a costume?

As adults, creators, psychologists, and parents, we owe young people more than hashtags.

We owe them safety, dignity, and the time to grow into themselves.

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Research Behind These Concerns

1. Social Media & Identity Formation
   Studies on adolescent development show that social platforms strongly influence how teenagers build their self-concept. When online engagement becomes performative rather than authentic, identity confusion and unstable self-esteem increase.

2. Sexualized Content & Self-Objectification
   A large meta-analysis found consistent links between exposure to sexualized media and higher levels of self-objectification in young people, which is associated with anxiety, body shame, and reduced self-worth.

3. Impact on Adolescent Mental Health
   Research with adolescent girls and caregivers reports that sexualized imagery on social media increases pressure to conform, unhealthy comparison, and vulnerability to emotional harm.

(Full academic citations can be provided on request.)

Teenagers don’t reclaim labels — they absorb them.

And what they absorb today becomes the voice they speak to themselves tomorrow.

Let empowerment be something that protects their future, not something that entertains our present.

— Arvina Sharma

Psychologist & Mental-Health Advocate