Girls Really Do Rock!

In case you haven't heard, my friend made this movie: Girls Rock! It's already playing in a number of major cities (San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles) and will be opening in 30+ more over the next few weeks. Instead of quoting the press materials or explaining the premise, I will just say that it's about empowering girls and women and that it's a must-see.

Here are the reasons why I need a movie like this in my life and almost cried ~37 times at the opening:

1. Because some days I feel so vulnerable that I imagine myself not as an individual person but as a carpet of broad-winged butterflies, stilled by the shade.

2. Because Eliot was the one who messed up and yet somehow half the coverage I've seen has focused on whether or not Silda did the right thing, like this choice piece from Slate: Silda's Mistake. I think what this article makes clear is that women are not only each other's fiercest critics, but that we reserve our most severe judgments for those among us who are unhappy, possibly because we fear it is infectious. While men are expected to misbehave and can expect to see their crimes minimized ("prostitution shouldn't even be illegal"), women are responsible for everything that happens to them and to those around them -- even the unforeseeable injuries inflicted by others ("that's what you get for quitting your job!").

3. Because I haven't had a Snickers bar since 6th grade.

4. Because the fact that I'm having my period doesn't make the sadness feel any less sad.

5. Because one of the girls in the movie -- you have to guess which one -- reminds me so achingly much of what I was like at her age -- all presence -- that it makes me wonder where my bold, brash, unabashed self has gone...