She Said What?!

She Said What?!

Mean Girls—the movie that defines our generation. It seems as if everyone can relate to something in that movie…whether it is exacting revenge, striving to be accepted, or faking stupid as Cady Herron (Lindsay Lohan) did in an attempt to win over a cute senior in calculus. Nowadays it’s not uncommon for girls to feel the need to dumb themselves down. However they take it a step farther than Cady, for now faking stupid is a full time job. Girls have decided that dumb is the way to go…every minute of every day.

One of the most common misinterpretations is that girls believe the way they act is “cute”. Somewhere in history it was concluded that boys were attracted to brainless girls. What a crazy statement that somehow convinced girls around the globe to dumb themselves down. Of course, I can’t judge for all boys, but I can pose this question: who are they attracting? Let’s say someone does find this odd behavior “cute”. Is that really someone you would want to be with? I personally want to find someone who accepts me for who I really am, for what’s on the inside. There’s no need to try and fit a certain criteria. You should embrace who you are. Be the athletic tomboy or the genius sporting a ponytail. Believe me, there will be way more individuals who respect you for your pride and honesty and yes, your intelligence!

As Mean Girls progresses you learn that Cady’s math grade has significantly dropped. She quickly learned that in order to play the part she had to intentionally fail! It’s unrealistic to assume that isn’t going on around us every day. Making your grades suffer in order to try and attract someone is the dumbest idea ever! The plan won’t work and in the meantime you would be jeopardizing your chances of a successful future as well as the fact that the longer you pretend to be something you are not, the more likely you’ll become that person in the end. Don’t deliberately transform yourself into Karen Smith!

For some reason girls believe attention is everything, yet they go about obtaining it in the most horrendous ways. No one wants to be around someone who they can’t hold a normal conversation with or with someone who they don’t feel is being real with them. To be honest that behavior repels people. It makes them uncomfortable around you. It’s not as if it isn’t obvious when someone is merely acting dumb and that aspect alone makes it hard to respect them, for they don’t have the courage to be who they are. They continuously hide behind their phony facade. Laughing too loudly at the foolish observations they make and assuming we are entertained when in reality we’re thinking, “What a waste of time!”

Personally I think it’s ridiculous to play the part of an unintelligent being. Don’t they realize what people are actually thinking of them and their behaviors? Don’t they realize their peers aren’t gazing upon them with envy? Don’t they realize we are staring at them in honest frustration, wondering why they make the comments they do? We used to want to be denoted as the smart kid. Why has that changed? Hopefully one day they’ll realize that putting on an act isn’t a way to make relationships—it’s a way to end them.

Your teenage years are times more than ever that you want to fit in with your peers. No one wants to be associated with people who give them a reputation. Being with the girl, who can’t accept herself, isn’t an ideal situation. We want to be seen with individuals who embrace who they are; not with the girl who makes the intentional dim-witted comments. That’s just embarrassing! My hope is that one day they forget the persona they’ve been concealed behind for so many years and dare to expose their true self to the world. Be like Cady who learned from her mistakes. Who owned up to everything she’d done and changed her ways, for in the end everyone loved the person hidden beneath.