We imagine Act Like a GRRRL
as a direct challenge to a girls' culture that undermines community,
facilitates negative outcomes, and limits what girls imagine that
they can accomplish in the world. In 2007, GRRRLs collaborated on
an Act Like a GRRRL mission statement.
As always, we were struck by their creativity, their honesty, and
their insight. Together, they wrote:
"ALAG is a program
that focuses on raising girls' awareness of their bodies, themselves,
their beauty and their relation to the world. Through introspective
writings, dance, art , music, poetry and performance, ALAG teaches
girls how to think for themselves and take charge of their lives
in the spirit of the women who lead them, filling them with heart
and soul for the journey ahead."
If there was any doubt about
the need for an intervention
in the lives of teenage girls, consider the following:
Girls’ self esteem is at risk...
• 70% of girls believe that they
are not pretty enough, smart enough, or popular enough.
(Real Girls, Real Pressure: A National Study on the State of Self-Esteem)
• At age thirteen, 53% of
American girls report that they are "unhappy with their bodies."
This rate grows to 78% by the time girls are seventeen.
(National Institute on Media and the Family)
• 57% of mothers criticize
their daughter's appearance.
(Real Girls, Real Pressure: A National Study on the State of Self-Esteem)
During adolescence, girls begin engaging in self destructive behavior...
• 9% of teenage girls aged 12-17
report using illicit drug monthly.
(National Household Survey on Illicit Drug Use)
• One in ten college aged
women exhibit clinical or nearly clinical diagnosable eating disorders.
(National Institute for Mental Health)
The future of women, depends on the lives of girls...
• While rates of teenage pregnancy
have been falling for decades, rates appear to be increasing since
2006. (National Center for Health Statistics)
• In 2004, the Centers for
Disease Control have reported a "dramatic and huge increase"
in suicide rates among young people. Rates for girls aged 10-14,
rose most significantly 76% from the previous year. Suicide rates
among teen girls aged 15-19 shot up 32 percent. By contrast, rates
for teenage boys rose 9 percent.
One ALAG mother writes of her
daughter’s experience:
"I can tell you, without any
hesitation that this experience has changed and shaped the destiny
of my daughter in nothing but the most positive ways. At 15 years
of age, she possesses not only a healthy self-confidence, but a
remarkable understanding of the wisdom and beauty and challenges
of girls and women all over the world. More importantly, she has
been imbued with a desire to be an agent of change, to better herself
and in some way, to help build a better world."
If you’d like help a young woman find her voice and speak
her truth at this important moment in her life, you can make your
check payable to Actors Bridge Ensemble (memo: ALAG) or call
Vali Forrister at 615-498-4077
to make a donation by credit card. You can also donate online
through Actors Bridge Ensemble right
here by indicating your donation is for ALAG in the special
instructions box.
• $600
secures a scholarship for a GRRRL.
• $300
provides all arts supplies needed for an entire Act
Like a GRRRL session.
• $100
provides the funds for costuming an Act
Like a GRRRL performance.
• $50
provides transportation for field trips.
If you'd like to see the show schedule and buy tickets
to the next performance of
Act Like a GRRRL, click here.
Thank you!
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