I teach math at an all-girls school, so I am always interested in learning about what the culture is like for young women. Freya India has a Substack named GIRLS, and she writes for several publications. Her book, Girls, is an eye-opening explanation of all the difficult issues Gen Z (born 1997 – 2012) women have had to deal with. Freya herself was born in 1999. Girls has 6 chapters, each one focusing on a specific issue. Freya’s main thesis is that, while adolescent girls have always had struggles, Gen Z girls have been forced to deal with dilemmas no previous generation had to navigate.
Chapter 1, Filtered, describes how young women are encouraged to alter their appearance on social media using filters like Facetune. This app is like virtual plastic surgery, allowing users to change their complexion, noses, ears, etc. Social media like Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok promote ephemeral beauty fads that are then used to advertise products and procedures to vulnerable adolescent girls. Algorithms manipulate what users see in their feed, leading them to believe they are physically, psychologically, and emotionally flawed.
Early in our marriage, my wife and I moved to Minnesota, and I was called as youth pastor at a small church. (It wasn’t a good fit and we were only there for a year.) We first stayed with my brother and his family in St. Paul, but we found an apartment in downtown Minneapolis, just six blocks from the church.
It’s a folk song that almost all English children of a certain age will know:
