Dear Society,

It’s time we take teenage girls seriously.

It often seems as if the teenage girls’ touch leaves a residue of frivolity and insignificance behind. Anything we like is deemed as either shallow or tacky (think boy bands, makeup, and fantasy romance novels). Remember the VSCO girl trend from last summer? The jokes about Birkenstocks and hair scrunchies were cute for a while, but they became excessive very soon. Why were girls made fun of because they liked wearing comfortable sandals and tying their hair up with cute hair accessories? 

Even if teenage girls branch out from the hobbies typically associated with the demographic, our interest is never considered genuine. If we like playing video games, no we don’t. We’re simply a poser. If we say we’re a sports fan, no we’re not. Not unless we know every play that was ever made by every single player in existence. Girls in STEM are constantly spoken over (it’s practically its own trope at this point). Any attempt teenage girls make to break out of the traditionally “feminine” sphere is immediately rejected. 

All of this stems from the negative connotation that surrounds teenage girls. We talk too much; we feel too much, and we care too much. Our words, thoughts, and emotions are constantly on overdrive, and this makes us inferior. It renders our voices null. We are too much, but at the same time we are never enough. 

This idea that our opinions and our values are insignificant is far from the truth. Because both in individuals and in the masses, teenage girls have proven time and time again that we have the power to accomplish great things.

For examples of individual prowess, we look to Malala Yousafzai, Greta Thunberg, and Mary Shelley. At age 17, Malala Yousafzai became the youngest ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate for her work fighting against the suppression of children and advocating for their right to education. Greta Thunberg, who has become the leader of a climate revolution and was TIME’s Person of the Year in 2019, is just 17 years old. Mary Shelley was just 19 years old when she completed Frankenstein, a novel that is widely accepted as the first genuine work of science fiction in the literary world. 

The power of teenage girls as a group is evident in the rise of one of history’s most iconic bands, the Beatles. Back in the 1960s, you could see crowds of teenage girls screaming and crying in front of a stage as Paul McCartney and John Lennon sang the lyrics to “Love Me Do”. This phenomenon became so forceful it was even designated a specific name: “Beatlemania”. 

The criticism for these star-struck teenagers was heavy. They were considered mindless, disturbing, and overly obsessive, much like Harry Styles and Kpop fans are thought of today. However, it is difficult to say that the band the world has come to love would have found its fame if not for the excitement and devotion of its teenage fanbase. 

Perhaps teenage girls get overly excited about the little things. And maybe we do walk through life with our senses turned up. But this ability to see and feel everything more intensely is a strength, not a weakness. Just because we shriek and cry when we see our favorite musicians does not make them any less of an artist. Society’s flighty perception of us does not make our hobbies and our passions any less valid. And it certainly does not render our thoughts and our words insignificant. 

Because as Malala Yousafzai, Greta Thunberg, Mary Shelley, and the Beatles fans of the 60s show, our voices and our actions have the ability to start revolutions. And we deserve your respect.