Who Rules the World? Teenage Girls Set is Ablaze in Girls State

In 2020, I screened Boys State, which centered around The American Legion Boys State and American Legion Auxiliary  sponsored summer leadership and citizenship programs for high school juniors focusing on exploring the mechanics of American government and politics.  It was fascinating until I witnessing the release of Girls State and what American democracy could actually look like in the hands of teenage girls.

A political coming-of-age story and a stirring reimagination of what it means to govern, “Girls State” follows 500 young female leaders from wildly different backgrounds across Missouri, as they gather for a week-long immersion in an elaborate laboratory of democracy, where they build a government from the ground up, campaign for office and form a Supreme Court to weigh the most divisive issues of the day.

In “Girls State,” the country is now deeper into democratic crisis, with civil discourse and electoral politics increasingly fragile under ever more extreme political polarization. As questions of race and gender equality in a representational democracy reach a fever pitch, these young women confront the complicated paths women must navigate to build political power. Following a distinctly female perspective and filled with teenage insecurity, biting humor and a yearning for true friendship, the young leaders of “Girls State” win hearts and minds—not just elections.

Directed and produced by award-winning filmmakers Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine, this doc was filmed for Apple TV plus and dropped at the perfect time.  Roe vs Wade was on the precipice of being overturned and Missouri literally had their finger on a “trigger law.” Under Missouri’s “trigger law, ”passed in 2019, abortions are only permitted in cases of a medical emergency to prevent the death of the pregnant woman or when a delay will create a serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function.  In Texas, the trigger law prohibits physicians from performing abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected. The Texas Heartbeat Bill became state law with a trigger in place that subjected it to a Supreme Court ruling which has now effectively enabled it.

So watching young women like Emily, Tocha, Nisha, Faith and Cecilia come together under these conditions with varying political opinions and views of the aforementioned issues was quite enlightening to witness.  It was also enlightening to discover the glaring differences between Boys State and Girls State fiscally and how the landscape views women in the political process versus men.  To say this documentary is right on time is an understatement with the upcoming elections and once more proves what most of us already know – who rules the world?  Girls!!!!!