Why are teen girls in crisis? It's not just social media

[Upward]

9. Maybe A Subset of Us Were Always in Crisis

And few people realized it, because w/out social media, who was comparing notes? We're talking about eras when girls' insecurities were always being dismissed, unless they became so problematic that treatment was demanded.

We didn't talk about teen female depression until Lisa, Bright and Dark. We didn't talk about DID until Sybil. Didn't talk about rape until Samantha Montgomery starred in A Case of Rape. Didn't talk about sexual harassment until the 1980s. Didn't talk about incest until Something About Amelia.

We didn't discuss Anorexia Nervosa until Karen Carpenter died. Didn't talk about Bulimia until Di.

And in all those times, if a teen girl was impacted by any of that she probably didn't tell anyone except for her very closest friends, or asked someone at her school for help and blew shit up.

Now, we have Social Media. You would think these would be regular topics of discussion, now that we can all join in, right? But what if it's the opposite? What if social media is actually keeping girls from discussing the things leading to depression, out of fear of being trolled by people who are not their friends? Fear of being criticized or punished by their dysfunctional family for airing dirty laundry?


Who do girls go to, to get help working out their shit, when everyone is connected to the internets?