There are days when I feel like I have a good grasp on this whole adulthood situation and like I’ve put high school far behind me. But the moment I start to feel like a grown-ass lady, something comes up that uncovers all my repressed teen emotions: the pit of despair, mild identity crisis, and awkwardness that is being a young girl. Today, that something was Michael Lucid’s 1996 documentary, Dirty Girls.
Watching this 18-minute amateur documentary gave me chills. Filmed while Lucid was a senior in high school, the doc follows a gang of 8th graders, led by sisters Amanda and Harper, who are called “The Dirty Girls” by their classmates. Though they’re mercilessly teased and bullied by their classmates, their clique doesn’t seem to give a single shit about the world outside their group. Amanda, Harper, and her pals are everything I wanted to be in high school: brash, stylish, uncensored, and creative. They even started a riot grrrl ‘zine that, unsurprisingly, was misunderstood by most of their classmates.
If you’ve forgotten how hard it is to be a misunderstood teenage girl, watch this ASAP. And if you were a dyed-hair Docs-and-fishnets-wearing punk in the 90s, “Dirty Girls” will drag you back into that riot grrrl mood. Or, if you’re in high school now, watch this doc and remember that it’s amazing to be a free thinker, no matter how much crap you get. Though I’m a lady in her mid-twenties, who’s also mid-grad school, I can’t help but look up to these so-called “Dirty Girls,” who were too kickass to ignore. View it below–you will NOT be disappointed.
Images Via: Dangerous Minds
