Jane Fonda [Photo/Agencies]

 

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Jane Fonda says society gives teenage girls "conflicting messages".

The actress and fitness video pioneer believes young girls are bombarded with the message to stay a virgin until they're married, yet, at the same time they're encouraged to have a certain sex appeal by music videos and movies.

The 76-year-old star says: "[Adolescent girls] have so much more pressure from the media. You're supposed to be sexy, you're supposed to be thin ... and yet family values and societal values kind of say, 'Be a good girl, and a virgin until you're married.' Conflicting messages are coming at them."

Jane insists men face the same pressures and are taught to embody the masculine stereotype, which is unhealthy.

She told 'Entertainment Tonight': "The message to boys is, 'Be a man. Don't cry. Don't show emotion. Don't love your mother too much.' All those kinds of things. And it develops a kind of toxic masculinity."

She recently recalled her difficult upbringing after her mother Frances Ford Brokaw took her own life when Jane was just 12 and she says her father, actor Henry Fonda, was distant and difficult.

She also claims her stepmother would insinuate she was overweight which resulted in her developing having self-esteem issues and developing bulimia.

She explained: "I never felt pretty or confident. My dad wouldn't tell me [I looked fat] directly; he would have his wife tell me that my bathing suit was too small or my belt was too tight or my skirt was too short. I became bulimic and anorexic, the whole thing."