Nothing is Scarier Than Teenage Girls

Just in time for Halloween, here are a few reminders (and an homage to my past self) that nothing is more terrifying than being a teen.

Above: from The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (Netflix)



There is nothing like a horror film to reveal the culture anxieties of one’s time and place. And if horror has taught me anything, it is that nothing has been as enduringly terrifying across time and place as women’s bodies, as the bodies of all marginalized genders. 

from "Salvation" in Dinner on Monster Island: Essays by Tania De Rozario

 

"So what am I now?" Lee says, teasing.

Dodo sighs. Give Lee a hard look. "A monster. You and your friends, all of you. Pretty monsters. It's a stage all girls go through. If you're lucky you get through it without doing any permanent to yourself or anyone else. Are you sure you really want to do this to your friend? It's cruel, Lee.

- from Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link


I don’t know what it is about teenage girls that makes even the tiniest moment of conflict feel so dramatic, or what it is about teen girl friendships that make them feel so inexplicably deep. Maybe it’s the hormones. Maybe it’s the expectations. Maybe it’s the subconscious awareness that we are coming of age in a world that wants to eat us alive.

from "Conflict Circle" in Dinner on Monster Island: Essays by Tania De Rozario



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