It seems churlish to bring this up because some girls and women really do experience depression and anxiety, really are the victims of harassment, assault and so on ... but for fuck's sake just look at these quotes from the article:

"I think it's important that girls can speak to each other about their problems because sexism is at all levels of society," says 18-year-old Clara.

Who is this Clara? What is she talking about when she says "sexism" and "all levels of society"?

And why does she make it sound like she's talking as if she's living under a military occupation by a foreign power?

(Note: I once read a foreword to a book written by Andrea Dworkin in which she actually and in all seriousness commented that she could completely empathise with Jean-Paul Sartre's wartime experiences in Paris because - according to her - living in the United States as a woman was no different from living under Nazi occupation in the 1940s!)

"I'm in high school, and it's still very obvious that the guys get to talk more, and get to take more places than the girls."

How is it "obvious"? And why isn't the BBC making any effort to note how odd that sounds in light of the official statistics that show girls have been outperforming boys on high school examinations for something like a decade now and that women are increasingly more likely to go to university?

"I think it's important for women to know that they're not alone," says Umi, who is 17. "We're always stigmatised with words like 'bossy', or [people will say] 'That's not ladylike', or 'slut.'"

Jesus Christ, this? Still?

"Young girls experience sexual harassment in ways that we don't talk about enough, or people don't take seriously ...

Who, just who does this person imagine is not taking this seriously?

Every major news outlet takes this seriously, parliament takes this seriously, every political party manifesto from the recent election had whole sections devoted to taking this seriously, local councils take this seriously, schools, colleges, companies, nightclubs, pubs, the police take this seriously

Hell, there are EVEN at least two police districts in the UK - Nottinghamshire and North Yorkshire - in which men can now be prosecuted for "gender hate crimes".

Does the BBC mention this?

Does it fuck like!

"When you look at television adverts, when you look at magazines, you see the models and they're all of one body type, one colour type, and it does get to you," she says.

"You're like, 'Why do they epitomise white European features so much? Am I not beautiful?'

Just kill me now ...

Archived link to original: Gurls Talk: Adwoa Aboah on creating a 'safe space' for women