By Professor Valerie Steeves

It’s always a privilege to do research with young people, and I’m often blown away by the candidness and honesty of girls who are willing to sit down and talk to you about their online lives. This last round of eGirls research has also broken my heart. We interviewed around 60 girls, most of whom are facing an incredible amount of judgment and pressure online about their bodies – girls are too fat, too made up, not made up enough, expose too much cleavage (read slut), don’t expose enough cleavage, have too many friends (read desperate), don’t have enough friends (read loser). I found the oppressive need for attention to detail, to present that “just right” image, absolutely exhausting. I can’t imagine what it would be like to live with that burden every day of a high school career. But most of the time, I felt like I was in a time warp, talking to my mother and grandmother about “that kind of girl”. Continue reading →