Introduction
Careful examination of a person’s behavior can sometimes be the most challenging part. People may not open up about what they are going through or what they are experiencing. It is upon an individual who has proper counseling skills to look at a person and come up with the correct diagnosis of the problem in question. Not all the time would one come up with the correct diagnosis, but the essence is to develop a plan of action with respect to the disability of the individual. The movie ‘Towelhead’ provides a challenge of conceptualization (Ball, 2008). The movie provides a broad converse over which a lot of issues can be drawn. The focus will, however, be on the young girl called Jasira. The story of the girl in the movie provides a complicated scenario that requires in-depth analysis and conceptualization (Berman, 2010).
Background
In the movie ‘Towelhead’, a story is told of a young girl who is getting into the puberty stage (Ball, 2008). Self-awareness becomes elusive for the young girl. The girl is about 14 years in the movie, and is curious about her sexuality and the challenges that come with it. Her search for the reason of her sexual changes drives her to engage in certain actions that are, to say the least, very unfortunate and sympathetic. The teenage girl sees some sexy photos on display and begins to get into the process of self-discovery. Masturbation becomes the norm for her, and to some extent, she enjoys the better part of it (Ball, 2008). The most fascinating part is that Jasira thinks she is aware of her sexuality. Her discussion about orgasms, and how it feels, makes the young girl appear to be so naive. Her tendency for masturbation is more of an accident than a reality for her. It does not appear as though it is a premeditated thing, but comes to her as a surprise.
The twists and turns in the movie are nothing, but fascinating. It is critical to note that the parents of the young girl are staying in two worlds apart. She only stays with the mother. One day, the mother comes home and finds the unthinkable happening. Jasira together with the boyfriend, are found on the seat performing an action that is unacceptable of a teenage girl. The boy is busy shaving the young girls private part (Ball, 2008). This makes the mother mad and takes her to stay with the father. While with the father, it becomes clear that the father is not ready to entertain the issues of her sexuality. The father even goes to an extent of slapping her when she finds her in certain types of clothes. When Jasira starts dating a Negro, the father warns of grave consequences and warns her against engaging with the boy in any way (Ball, 2008). This confuses her even further.
While staying with the father, the teenage girl starts to take care of a neighbor’s baby. The experiences that take place next door would worry anyone. She gets exposed to the father’s pornographic materials. What follows is a sexual experience that moves out of hand and turns into a rape case. The father turns out to be a child molester and defiles the young girl with remorse or any sincere considerations. The young girl is, however, fascinated by the turn of events and thinks as though it is a normal occurrence (Ball, 2008). The other progressive parts of the movie put the girl in a dangerous zone of oblivion and self-destruction instead of self-awareness.
Analysis
As I sat on the sofa watching this movie, emotions drained me. The poor girl was in a dilemma and in a self-conflicting situation. She was basically torn down between reality and assumption. In reality, she was not aware of anything, and her sexuality was a disturbing experience. There was no one to talk to her about her sexuality and therefore, as she underwent the process of self-awareness, ignorance and naivety became the order of the day. The mother was also immersed in ignorance as she could not even notice the changes in her daughter and take appropriate actions. Adolescence stage is a very complicated stage in a teenager’s life and constant guidance and direction is necessary to ensure that there is no serious deviation from the moral norms. While many people would choose to ignore the situations of young people with respect to their sexuality, a teenager’s adolescent life is a weapon of self-destruction.
The case of Jasira is classical to the extent to which she is left alone to define her own sexuality. In her bid to discover herself that is nothing, but an illusion, she is an accident waiting to happen. The father of the girl only got an opportunity to defile and satisfy his ego. The most fascinating thing is that the girl was only about 14 years. She could not get any proper teaching, and how she could handle herself with respect and discretion.
The disability in this movie was the fact that the Jasira was not aware of the transition in her sexual life. I, therefore, thought of how best I could help the young girls get back to life and live comfortably with her sexuality. At this stage of life for the young girl, a number of things were possible. A young at the age of Jasira does not know about the consequences of having sex. Sexually transmitted diseases are a possibility not to mention the dreaded HIV virus. She could be pregnant and start the life of parenthood at a tender age (Rowatt, 2001). All these were concerns to me and I started drawing an action plan based on professional competence. The first action plan would be to provide a counseling session for the young girl based on her sexuality. It would be critical to point out to her the changes she should expect during her stage of life and the things she should be practicing.
Adolescents, especially young girls are never aware of any eventualities. Letting her know about the changes would be the first step of liberating her from herself (Rowatt, 2001). While she thinks she knows, the reality is that she does not understand anything. A counseling session would then be arranged to teach her the effects of having multiple sexual relationships and the resultant factors. In all these sessions, the idea would be to teach her and make her learn from her past as she heads to the future (Jamrozik, 1998). Condemnation would not be an option, as this would make her feel victimized a situation that could prove costly. This could interfere with her self –esteem and depression could then follow. Another action plan would be to allow for confidentiality. Research has shown that teenagers who have their secrets leaked either to friends; parents or relatives end up abandoning the whole counseling sessions and going full blast with their behaviors. As a counselor, the motivation would be to open up the girls' understanding and open her up to different possibilities.
Self-awareness would be of necessity as this would be the most important step towards solving the issue. Adolescents should be handled with a lot of care in the sense that they are nothing, but kids only transiting into the life of adulthood (Jamrozik, 1998). The case of Jasira is unique to her. Many teenagers and young adults are engrained in the cycle of misunderstanding with respect to their sexuality. It is, therefore, critical to note that sexuality is not a subject that can be wished away. After choreographing my action plan towards helping Jasira in the movie, ‘Towelhead’ (Ball, 2008), I briefed with a sigh of relief knowing that the action plan would help anyone in her situation. The counseling session would be beneficial to Jasira and most of the young adults and teenagers who are conflicted with respect to their sexualities.
Conclusion
The conceptualization process is very critical and can be so useful. In counseling, the tool is as important as any other counseling tool (Berman, 2010). When a person can be observed and a diagnosis found for the problems faced, it becomes possible to give a helping hand. Through professional experience and discernment of a particular situation, it is possible that individuals are able to get the help they need without any prejudice or undue actions. A disability is that an individual encounters in the social life can be corrected if properly conceptualized and action plan drawn.
References:
Berman, P. (2010). Case conceptualization and treatment planning: Integrating theory with
clinical practice. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage.
Ball, Alan. (2008). Towelhead film. Based on the novel by Alicia Erian. Retrieved From: <
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/towelhead-2008>
Jamrozik, A., & Nocella, L. (1998). Sociology of social problems: Theoretical perspectives and
methods of intervention. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Rowatt, W. (2001). Adolescents in crisis: A guidebook for parents, teachers, ministers, and
counselors. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press.
