Mean Girls, The Movie

From 2/17/08

Gretchen: Growing up female in this world is not easy. In China, baby girls are routinely put up for adoption. And in parts of Africa, women are still made to live in tents during the time of their menses.

Karen: Ew!

Gretchen: And even in fancy countries like the United States and England, seven out of ten girls have a negative body image.

Regina George: Who cares? Six of those girls are right!

Mean Girls, 2004

I think this should be a must-see for every preteen and teenage girl. It is not just funny but it has a point to it: girls can be brutal to each other. And that the number one reason why they say the ugly things they say to and about each other is that somehow they think by tearing down another girl's flaws, makes theirs less obvious.

In middle school, I was once the target of a mean girl. She used to reduce me to tears with just a cutting remark. Her favorite target was my face. I have a very round face and my eyes have a slight asian look to them in that I have short lids and turn slightly up at the corner then I also had very red and full lips. She had deemed that ugly and delighted in telling me this at every chance, directly or indirectly.

My parents would assure me its not true and pointed out she was the ONLY girl saying it. But the damage had been done, I seriously believed she was the ONLY person honest. Everyone else also thought I was ugly but they didn't want to hurt my feelings.

It wasn't until college that I actually believed that to some people I'm actually pretty. And wasn't until my 30s that I decided that I'm pretty to myself.

I can't even remember that girl's name but amazing the impact her need to hurt another girl's feelings had! I wonder what ever happened to her?