Those portrayed in the press are often involved in prostitution, doing and dealing drugs, skipping school, and using their profits for ultra-consumer items such as visits to tanning salons, expensive Italian-made handbags, Gucci earrings, and sky-high cellular phone bills. Is the media responsible for the shocking images of kogal? Or was there truly a kogal movement: a new emergence of curious, consumer-minded girls who were waiting to be discovered and raised as a national issue?

The Japanese media has been less than self-critical regarding their exploitation of the kogal. In percentages, the ratio of girls active in the promiscuity and drug use associated with the kogal is believed to be low. Television provided exposure only to the most hardcore of these girls, and mass media went so far as to attach a celebratory mood to their exploits, giving the reward of attention to those extreme enough for Prime Time. A nationwide stereotype soon developed; wherein the modern school girls' uniform, embellished with loose socks and a cellular phone, has come to be perceived as the dress code for promiscuity, easiness, greed, and stupidity. That these girls cannot escape the pigeonholing they suffer for being in-style within the boundaries of their uniforms has become more and more of a source of anger for them. "At least every week I am propositioned sex for money," says a 17-year-old student in Ikebukuro.

Along with Shibuya, Ikebukuro is considered one of Tokyo's meccas for kogal. Many kogal congregate there because of its many cheap karaoke boxes, fast food restaurants, department stores, and close proximity to Waseda University. However, this student who travels through Ikebukuro during her daily commute to and from school simply finds it a convenient place to stop and study. "I ride the Saikyo line, which is one of the most crowded, into Tokyo every day. Very often I run into chikan (train perverts), who press their bodies against me, often palming my body and becoming noticeably excited in their pants." X-ko, who is still a virgin, feels strongly that it's her appearance that attracts this attention. She, as well as her three friends who accompanied her when we met, have the same appearance as the most stereotypical kogal, including brown-dyed hair, expensive (parent-bought) leather handbags, and cellular phones. The three expressed strong affirmation at the opinion of their friend. "I wish that I were in high school at a different time. Now, with kogal being such an issue in Japan, nobody can see me for me. They only see me as kogal, like the ones they see on TV."