Cultural Stereotypes and History Suppress Girls’ Voices—Here's How To Push Back

From Tolstoy’s novels to high school textbooks, the stories and images that define achievement and history are overwhelmingly male. Adolescent girls learning about the world through these lenses may begin to sense, often without being able to name it, that their voices and experiences are undervalued or erased. The content you’ve read brings up specific examples—mountains named for men, classical works focused on male lives, and women depicted in media as little more than accessories, objects of desire, or comic relief.

Media theory and feminist scholarship call this ‘symbolic annihilation’—not just the absence of representation, but the erasure that makes it harder for girls to imagine big futures. As girls adapt to these messages, their ambitions shrink, and they may internalize limitations as natural or blame themselves for not fitting the mold.

Change begins with awareness. When girls, parents, and educators name whose stories are missing and create space for women’s real voices, girls can challenge passive self-doubt. Bringing new narratives into the spotlight isn’t just for March or a special project; it creates tidal shifts in how girls see what’s possible.

This week, look at your textbooks, entertainment, and even the conversations you overhear for signs of who is center-stage and who is invisible. Write down what you notice, then bring just one example to a group or adult who is open to honest talk. Discuss why it matters, especially if it feels small at first. Finally, choose a way to share or celebrate a woman's story—maybe by suggesting a book to your friends or bringing a new fact to dinner. Little by little, shining a light on hidden voices changes what girls—maybe even you—see as possible. Give it a try and see what comes up.