Radio 4 “about the girls “

[WarriorN]

This caught my eye; a series on issues facing girls in 2026. Across different programmes.

Excellent article on the app this morning

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c62je1g000eo

“What I was not expecting was that across all the conversations I had, one theme kept resurfacing: teenage girls still tend to see themselves through the lens of boys. And, importantly, there seems to be an acute understanding of this.

When I asked my opening question "What is it really like to be a girl in 2025/26? Tell me the truth, don't be polite!" The answer almost invariably began with the words: "Well boys think/say/want/ feel…". These conversations felt like some odd real-life version of the Bechdel Test. Which, in case you are not familiar, provides a metric for evaluating female representation in films. To pass the test, a film (1) has to have at least two named women in it, who (2) talk to each other, about (3) something besides a man. None of my interviews would pass.

"Growing up as a girl," said one "so much of that is about how boys are behaving around you and what they're doing to you. So there isn't really a way to talk about that without mentioning boys... and it is frustrating."”

The only thing 'surprising' in 'the reality of how teenage girls still define themselves' is that anyone who has been paying attention should think that. Very little in that article is at all surprising.

I couldn't help noticing how often the interviewer used the word 'people' to refer to the subjects of a discussion about girls and girls' bodies, and every time she did, the science woman reorientated the language back to 'girls' and 'boys'

Edited to adjust apostrophes! 's's' 🤣

The next part is now being broadcast, it's a discussion with the creator of the series Catherine Carr on Woman's Hour.

I still think it’s a good interview with current teenage girls and it goes some way towards pushing back on a lot of heavily promoted misperceptions peddled by social media influencers and politicians.

Though the girls did not hold back, the irony was that almost all of them said their behaviour was different than when boys are around.

BBC on the edge of finally understanding why girls need to be able to associate in single-sex groups.

Yes, it is hopefully useful.

They did the boys first, of course.

Perhaps the BBC would link this to the “poor trans girls being left out of Girlguiding” pieces.

Oh it’s entirely unsurprising and nothing appears to have changed in 30 years.

At the same time, people need to be reminded of this regularly. I think there needs to be new, long form analysis like this on the bbc every 3 years.

I suppose one key difference I noted is that they all want large thighs now.

At least aiming to achieve strong chunky legs reduces the risk of knee issues, arthritis and possibly osteoporosis later.

Especially gaslighty following the girl guide debate last Friday.

That shouldn’t even be a debate!!!

Now about to start on Radio 4 is the first in the series itself, rather than programmes related to the series:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002v0z7

Cognitive dissonance at the BBC must be reaching epic proportions but still no dots are joined.

I read that and thought, "Why don't we have more girls' schools?" I went to one and so did my daughters. It's well-known that girls do better in girls' schools, and it gives them space to develop away from male dominance and judgement; at age 10 or so I was very keen to go to a girls' school as I wanted to learn, and all the disruptive kids were boys.

I'm not saying this should be the only option, but for most girls it is not an option at all.

Just listened to part one. Interesting but not surprising, (in the sense that many of these pressures won’t be news to anyone with teenage, or younger, daughters).

This was really just an intro to the series. The next one is concentrating on SM.

Now it's part 2 on Radio 4. Social media, as mentioned above.

The next related programme has just started on Radio 4:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002tzqm

A BBC investigation has found that across England, GCSE results for girls have fallen, with a sharp decline among white working class girls in English and Maths.

I was surprised at how insightful the girls in the social media one were. I can’t help thinking if they have their own children how they will handle phones etc

The programme giving girls a platform to speak in their own voices and on their own terms is one of its strengths.

I was listening to the WH episode with the reporter who made the series on; it was good to hear that one of the sports orgs that had taken part in the series had, as a result, been spurred on to create more opportunities for girls only.

One reason for that which has been suggested is that the style of examination changed to favour how most boys tend to achieve.

Other aspects are likely to the issue of gender stereotypes which seem to be getting worse in terms of toys etc. toys have been shown to impact areas such as maths.

As someone who regularly writes to criticise the BBC for its gender bollocks, I encourage everyone to congratulate it on this series. Better late than never, eh BBC?

Yes I was thinking of doing so

Now on Radio 4 it's about how girls feel about education:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002v03r