Feature

Why Girls Smoke

Syed Azmal Hussain Wasi

SMOKING is a part of my daily fashion”. I heard a girl say this the other day at a restaurant. Many female smokers, like the one I mentioned, do think that smoking makes them look more fashionable and modern. This can be a “good” reason for some girls to start smoking. All female smokers, however, do not have the same notion behind smoking. The tendency of smoking is high among college and university girls. Even being aware of the fact that smoking has many bad effects like deadly diseases, shorter life span, weaker metabolism etc., they tend to smoke for some “benefits”. The habit of smoking, for some girls, becomes so ingrained that they don't even want to discuss anything bad about it.

Many or almost all female smokers believe that the nicotine they inhale everyday will burn their fat to give them a slimmer body. This notion highly works among teenage girls. The electronic media is pretty much responsible for making these teenage female smokers believe in this myth. They often see beautiful and athletic type models on TV who advertise on behalf of tobacco companies. Since they get hooked on nicotine, they don't want to give up smoking even if they do not lose fat. A recent study has said that girls who smoke are no more likely to lose weight than girls who don't smoke. This false notion is instilled in them through the advertisements. By the time they realize the truth, they can not give up smoking since they get addicted to nicotine.

A section of smokers believe that one of the ways of equating themselves to men is smoking. For the last decade, smoking was only considered to be a male act. But recently it concerns women as well.These days most of the teenage girls readily express that they are independent, so they have the right to smoke as the boys do.

Peer pressure is another cause of making girls smoke. As human beings, we often try to imitate our

friends either consciously or subconsciously. When a girl sees her friends smoking, she feels a great interest in it. Initially, she remains satisfied to have a few puffs from her “cool” friend's cigarette. After a while, she does not consider it smart to borrow her friends' half smoked cigarettes, so she takes an entire cigarette to finish it at once. Thus she becomes addicted to nicotine. Her friends do not tell her to give up smoking, as they are also addicted to it. They tend to smoke, as they do not see any instant bad impact of smoking on their friends who have been smoking for a long time.

One cause behind smoking's initiation in girls, which most of the people do not think of, is parents' overt smoking habit. Many teenage girls take the first lesson of smoking from their parents. They first try with the butts of cigarettes that their parents dump after smoking. Thereafter, they become resolute to go further and start taking cigarettes from their father's coat, drawer, etc. Thus they, without their parents ever knowing, get addicted to nicotine. Their parents don't even realize that they have unknowingly done a great harm to their children.

Nowadays, many girls smoke not only as a need to meet the demand of nicotine, but also as a part of fashion. Furthermore, they often see their favorite actors smoke in a classy manner on TV which leads them to start smoking. If their favorite actors smoke, why shouldn't they? No wonder they become regular smokers in later times.

Whatever the reason behind smoking is, it is bad in all ways. Girls who smoke do not look smarter anymore than the girls who don't. Smoking doesn't make anyone fashionable, nor does it burn fat. A cigarette can only cause the smoker to smoke another cigarette.

(Editor Star Campus invites readers to engage in a healthy debate on this issue: Should girls/women smoke? Send your articles not exceeding 400 words. Don't use abusive language but use logic to build up your case for or against smoking by girls.)