[Girl 1:] Mike, what happened? You know, 'cause he'd... he'd grown so much, you know, nobody could believe it.
'Cause he'd just shot up.
[Girl 2:] And the girls who are... who aren't so well-built, well, they're kind of afraid to wear tights.
Well, it's because then they think that people are going to laugh at them and make fun.
"Oh, look it... she's wearing a tight sweater and that shows you everything she's got."
[Girl 3:] When anybody... Well, if anybody kissed me or anything,
I'd be afraid that they'd think I was too young or...
I... I don't know, I think a lot of girls do and everybody I know does.
[Girl 4:] Well, when a boy has kissed me or something, and you have that, you know, you have that feeling you know?
And you want everyone to know, you know, you want everyone to know you were out of sight that night.
[Girl 2:] And I went out and I... I asked my dad a question or something and he just blew up at me and... and he was just really mad at me.
I just felt so terrible because it was my fault and everything.
[Girl 1:] They were just kidding. They were holding hands with him and putting their arms around and everything.
They were just kidding, you know? And... so they finally said,
"Well, it's Wendy's boyfriend!"
And so, they pushed me into him and everything, and, um, he took my hand but, you know, I didn't know that...
I just held him like that, you know, and so he looked down and he, you know, told me you're suppose to hold them like that, you know.
And I didn't know that. I was really embarrassed.
'Cause I thought, you know, I mean if I'm going steady, I might as well know that.
[Girl 3:] I'd say there was this really cute guy that sat next to me, I mean, behind me, and he kept...
I don't know what, if he had a crush on me or what, but he kept you know writing all over my [INAUDIBLE], and he'd write... he wrote...
[Girls laugh]
I mean I had this one time I had my girls...
[Narrator:] A time of change.
One of the changes is a speed up in the rate of growth.
Ruth started her growth spurt two years ago. [DIALOGUE MISSING] just beginning.
Both of the same age, both perfectly normal.
Some girls begin adolescence at nine or ten years.
Others as late as fifteen or sixteen.
These girls are both age ten.
Now eleven.
Twelve,
thirteen,
fourteen,
fifteen.
At sixteen, one is physically mature. The other still has years to go.
[...]
Because boys on the average mature later than girls,
some girls will be taller for awhile than many boys their age.
[...]
[Girl 2:] ...so short. And he asked me to dance. And I got up and I started dancing with him.
And his shoulder was like right there. And I... I just hadn't realized, you know, how much he'd grown.
And then... and then I was dancing with him, and he seemed less, or he seemed, you know, kind of unsure,
and this year he's got, like, like if just you were... you were dancing with this... with a pillar of iron or something, you know?
Just this... all this muscle standing there, and... [Laughter]
You know, and I thought... [Groaning]
[Girl 5:] Oh, I knew this girl once in seventh grade, and she... she would never take showers.
All semester, she didn't take a single shower because she was more developed than everybody else in seventh grade,
and she... she was real embarrassed because she was afraid they would tease her or make fun of her or something because she was...
[Narrator:] Some people mind not being the same size and shape as most of their friends.
If you are one of those, take heart. You're perfectly normal.
In three or four years, differences in height and size and shape
will be much less than during adolescence.
[Girl 6:] Come on! Get it! Hurry!
[Narrator:] Another change that happens at adolescence is in the skin.
Whenever a person exercises or is hot,
sweat glands produce perspiration over most of the body.
[Girls running and chatting excitedly]
But when Gail started adolescence, another kind of sweat gland began to work.
These new glands work when you are nervous, tense, or afraid.
[Gail:] Hello? Yeah? Who?
Oh Bob! Sure, I remember you.
Um...
I met you at the game with Jack.
Did he?
Um... Oh, that Bob!
[Narrator:] They are concentrated on the body in a few places.
For instance, under the arms.
Perspiration from these glands has an unpleasant odor.
[...]
[Gail:] Mom, where's the blouse I ironed yesterday?
[Mom:] On the ironing board where you left it.
[Gail:] Okay, thank you.
[Narrator:] Naturally, you need to change clothes more frequently.
And girls also need to bathe or shower more often than before adolescence.
[...]
The condition called acne is another of the changes in the skin that occurs at adolescence.
[...]
Here is a drawing showing a cross section of the skin.
There are countless glands in the skin called sebaceous glands.
Each one opens into a hair follicle, the channel from which a hair grows.
[...]
A sebaceous gland produces an oily substance that passes up the hair follicle to the skin surface.
When a girl reaches adolescence, these glands increase the production of oil,
much more in some people than in others.
[...]
Also during adolescence, the skin begins to grow more rapidly
and here and there will obstruct some of the openings.
The oily material, mixed with particles of skin, clogs and hardens, forming a plug.
When the plug remains, it darkens and becomes what we know as a blackhead.
[...]
Since the sebaceous gland continues to produce oil,
it may eventually cause the hair follicle to break.
The skin becomes red and swollen, and finally a small infection may start.
[...]
Multiply this several times, and you have acne.
[...]
The best way to keep acne under control is by washing thoroughly with a mild soap and warm water two or three times a day.
This removes oil and helps to clear pores that are beginning to plug.
[...]
Sometimes, doctors recommend special soaps to help remove the oil from the skin.
[...]
Many doctors believe that acne is affected by food,
saying that meals heavy in fats, starches, and sweets will make acne worse.
Other doctors disagree, arguing that no one has proved that food affects the skin.
[...]
At least all doctors agree that you can't go wrong if you eat plenty of proteins, vegetables, and fruits.
[...]
There is something that a girl can do for her skin, though, without asking a doctor.
Exercise affects health, and health affects the skin.
[...]
Rest is also important.
When a girl is run down, her skin becomes run down, too.
The effect of exercise and rest is indirect, but it's very real.
[...]
All of these outer changes in height and figure and skin are indications of profound changes that started in Gail two or three years ago.
A girl is started on the way to womanhood by the action of this small gland at the base of the brain: the pituitary.
It is a sort of "growth clock" that sets off a signal in different girls at different ages.
The pituitary gland sends out a special hormone that causes the reproductive organs to develop.
[...]
As the ovaries grow, they begin to produce other hormones.
It's these new hormones that bring about various changes in the body during the next few years.
The breasts develop.
Body hair appears, most noticeably under the arms and in the pubic region.
Hips grow broader.
[...]
The most important changes, however, are those in the reproductive system.
Only a few of the parts are at the surface of body.
The labia, the soft folds that cover the inner organs.
The hymen, or maidenhead, a ring of tissue that frequently but not always extends around the entrance to the vagina.
And the clitoris, a small, highly sensitive organ.
This opening is the urethra, the tube leading from the urinary bladder.
Although it has its outlet here, it's not part of the reproductive system.
The vagina is the canal that leads to the actual organs of reproduction.
These organs are the uterus, or womb, the Fallopian tubes, and the ovaries.
[...]
Under the influence of the hormones,
all of the inner organs have been developing along with breasts and hips, getting ready.
[...]
Part of this gradual change happens in the ovaries, where thousands of eggs, or ova, have been developing.
[...]
At last, one of them is released.
During the next few days, it moves along the Fallopian tube toward the uterus.
[...]
Meanwhile, the walls of uterus prepare to receive and nourish the ovum if it should be fertilized.
The lining gets thicker, and the blood supply increases.
[...]
When the egg is not fertilized, the extra lining discharges from the body along with some blood.
This discharge, menstruation, begins about two weeks after the ovum leaves the ovary.
It usually lasts from three days to a week, or even more.
Menstrual, or monthly, periods usually happen about every four weeks.
However they are likely to be quite irregular for the first two or three years while a girl is still maturing.
And later, a cycle of perhaps five weeks or three weeks is perfectly normal.
[...]
It takes time to get used to the changes of adolescence, which at first may seem so strange.
However, for many girls, menstruation brings no problem and little discomfort,
only the extra care needed for cleanliness.
[...]
The best way to prevent ordinary, mild menstrual cramps is just plain good health.
Plenty of sleep, and plenty of the kind of exercise that you're used to.
[...]
By this normal cycle, the organs are repeatedly prepared for bearing a child.
[...]
The development of a baby begins when an ovum, during the first day or two, encounters sperm.
Let's trace the path by which sperm arrive from the sexual organs of the male.
Here is the penis,
and here the testicles, the parts outside the body.
From each testicle, a duct leads into the body where it joins the urethra,
the tube leading from the bladder through the penis.
[...]
Each testicle is packed with tubes.
The walls of these tubes are lined with special cells.
When a boy reaches adolescence, they begin to grow and develop into the male sex cells called sperm, or spermatozoa.
Millions of sperm develop in a short time since this growth happens constantly
along more than a mile of tubes contained within the testicles.
[...]
The millions of sperm are moved along, filling other coiled tubes and the duct leading into the body.
[...]
Fluid from certain glands mixes with the sperm.
The sperm-filled fluid is called semen.
[...]
In preparation for passing the sperm from the body, the penis becomes congested with blood and erect.
[...]
Muscular contractions force the semen into the urethra and out of the body.
[...]
It is nature's way of passing the male sperm into the female vagina during sexual intercourse.
[...]
Here are live sperm shown under a microscope.
They are able to propel themselves by lashing their long tails.
[...]
Within a short time after intercourse, sperm in the vagina propel themselves through the uterus
and into the Fallopian tubes.
If the sperm meet an ovum, one of them will penetrate the ovum wall and fertilize it.
[...]
A new life is created.
[...]
Now when a fertilized ovum reaches the uterus, it embeds itself in the wall that is prepared for it.
[...]
The growth of the baby begins.
[...]
The creation of new life:
for this, the male and female reproductive systems are designed.
[...]
But before a girl becomes a woman and a mother, she will need to mature fully.
She will need time to get used to all the changes,
changes in her body, in her feelings.
[...]
There are new sexual feelings, new feelings about boys.
There are up days and down days.
There are new uncertainities and new joys.
It takes time to get used to all the changes.
It takes time.
[Medical supervision by Elsie A. Giorgi, M.D. Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine, UCLA Medical Center]
[Irving N. Klitsner, M.D. Associate Clinical Professor, Pediatrics, University of Southern California Medical School]
[Teenage Department, Southern California Permanente Medical Group]
[direction: David Hilberman, Robert B. Churchill; animation: Spencer Peel, Frank Armitage, Ruth Kissane]
[script: Robert B. Churchill;camera: Stevan Larner, Robert Kaufman;sound: Rod Sutton]
[A CHURCHILL FILM]