Sarah+D’s+Final+AmEx+2013+Speech

=Title of Speech=

**Mean Girls**
**Text of Speech**  Raise your hand if you have ever been personally victimized by Regina George. Just kidding, but we’ve all heard of, or maybe actually have been victimised by, a real-life Regina George. And that’s one of the many things I don’t understand about my gender; why us girls can be so mean. There’s a whole list of things I don’t understand about girls, like why we feel we need to know everything, love drama, or why we travel to the bathroom in packs, but why and how we can be so vicious to each other probably tops the list. And I hate //how// we go about being mean and the severity of it. We aren’t up-front about it (usually); we’re manipulative and back-stabbing, playing mind games and spreading rumours. Even when a girl confronts another face-to-face, she still chooses the most cutting words that won’t be forgotten or, rips the other’s earrings out. Girls don’t easily forget negative things said about them, and we use that as a weapon against each other when we’re mad. Sometimes even over the most insignificant disturbance. I just don’t get why we tear each other apart. I don’t get why we feel that we have to label each other. We’re already self-conscious enough, yet we still judge each other harshly. Most of the judging and name-calling is because we feel bad about ourselves, so we find and pick at other girl’s flaws to make us feel better. Sometimes the label is an excuse to not like some other girl. That “slut’s” promiscuity and possible, uhm, generosity most likely doesn’t affect you personally. Just because you don’t like her actions doesn’t mean you can call her a “fugly slut,” we’re not all perfect angels. Maybe she’s not even an actual slut, she’s just promiscuous and the attention makes her feel better. You don’t //really// know her life, you just think you do. When I was younger, probably in third/fourth grade or sometime after “Mean Girls” came out, I was at a friend’s house when she brought out a Burn Book she had made. She showed me some of the pages she had already made, they included a few of the girls in my class of 32 (I went to a small Catholic school) and even some of our teachers. I don’t remember exactly what the pages said, but they were vicious for our age then and probably now. I didn’t really know what to say, I just know that I was pretty sure none of these girls or teachers did anything to my friend that validated her action. I mean the occasional fight over line leader or stolen Lisa Frank fuzzy pencil (oh how priorities have changed) was annoying and the travesty of the moment, but that was no reason for the things she had written. I was kind of worried about what she was saying about me after seeing the book and lack of reasons for her dislike of the people in it. I still don’t understand the random dislike she harboured towards those girls. I have friends now that say they //hate// some other girl, and when asked why, they respond “I don’t know, I heard she hated me, soo...” or “I don’t even remember why, hahah.” Maybe it’s just the word hate; I think people have forgotten how strong actual hate is when they say it half the time. But anyways, to actually hate that girl, she would’ve had to royally screw you over. It wouldn’t be something that you “don’t even remember.”  I know I’m totally generalizing girls in this speech, and I feel hypocritical in giving it, but in the world I grow up in I just want girls to be nicer to each other. I mean, we’ve got enough on our plates usually with life and continuing it, so do we really need the pointless hatred and dislike of each other? As Cady said in the movie, “Calling someone fat won’t make you any skinnier. Calling someone stupid doesn’t make you any smarter. And ruining Regina George’s life definitely didn’t make me any happier. All you can do in life is try to solve the problem in front of you.” Plus, everyone just gets tired of all the drama and people get hurt for no reason. I mean, you don’t want to end up like Regina with a back brace and spine halo at a dance. I just want girls to respect each other more in the future; we all understand each other, I mean we can have full conversations just by looking at each other. Girl code. Oh, and “I just wanted to say that you’re all winners. And that I couldn’t be happier the school year is ending.”

=Cite Your Sources= Mean Girls the movie Life