It was a surprise to me that, when I asked the teenage girls whom I met while making my series About The Girls for BBC Radio 4, their role models were usually found very close to home. Sure, Kylie Jenner and Taylor Swift got the odd mention – largely for their impressive business acumen – but on the whole, the women that these teenage girls were watching were their mothers, aunties, sisters, cousins, teachers, coaches and grandmothers.
During their teenage years, when friendships can be fraught with emotion, girls talked about finding a “sisterhood” among these women in their lives. Feeling solidarity among your peers can be hard, they explained, when some seem intent on making your life a misery. Grannies and godmothers can lend perspective and calm, offer hope and some respite from the relentless insecurity of teenage life.
