‘Girls State’ Considers American Democracy In The Hands Of Teenage Girls

Girls and Boys State, put on by The American Legion, are annual meetings that give high school students the opportunity to practice government through mock debates, campaigns, and elections. Students assume political offices, decide cases, and represent the beliefs of their not-quite-old-enough-to-vote-yet high school peers. Each state holds an annual Girls and Boys State, and they are typically held separately.

While these events were once earnest exercises in civics education, a new Apple TV documentary titled “Girls State” suggests that these events may not survive the present assault on traditional American values. To wit, the winning governor of the 2022 Missouri Girls State won on the platform: “Be prideful, be selfish, and vote Cecelia.” 

Her platform was essentially women have to think of themselves because the men are not going to. Basically, in the words of one of the girls there, Emily Glasgow, Cecelia ran on an unbeatable platform: a feminist manifesto. 

What was the great inequality that propelled these girls to unite under such a slogan? Stricter dress codes and a buddy system that their counterpart at Boys State did not have to adhere to. So while these girls lamented these grave injustices, the boys were discussing policy, albeit with its own issues, but policy nonetheless. 

After Apple TV’s “Boys State” documentary dropped in 2020, it was only a matter of time before Mile End Films shot the natural sequel, “Girls State.” When Missouri held Girls and Boys States concurrently for the first time at