May 11

May 11 Boys Vs Friends

We're talking about how we could flip the script for #13ReasonsWhy, so girls like Hannah Baker don't feel like suicide is the only option - and you can be an awesome friend.

We heard from heaps of you about what Clay could have done to support Hannah when d-bag Justin shared her up-skirt photo with the entire school.

Here are some of your ideas about what Clay could do if he could rewind the tape:

Ask Hannah “Are you OK?”
Tell Hannah it was a sh*t thing for Justin to do and not at all her fault!!”
Ask Hannah what he could do to help her
Speak up when he got the pic and say you’re a d*ck for sharing this
Say something when he sees other friends sharing it, or talking about it and tell them that it's not OK. Justin’s the one who did something wrong, not Hannah. Even if they DID have sex, Justin would still be totally wrong for sharing it.

When someone shares something your private pics around the whole school, it makes you feel totally violated, alone and ashamed. Clay letting Hannah know he’s got her back and that Justin sharing the photo was gross and not her fault would go a looooong way.

It’s SO important we stand up for our friends and other girls when people call us as “sluts”. We need to put the shame where it really belongs – with the creep who shared the photo in the first place. #sharingisnotcaring.

The horrible thing is that being called a ‘slut’ haunts Hannah for the rest of her life. Which leads us to…

Episode 2: Jessica Davis

Like Episode 1, Everything starts off looking up for Hannah. She has a whirlwind "friend affair" with new girl Jessica, going on coffee dates and buying clothes together. Soon Alex Standall, another new kid, joins, and they become a tight three.

The group starts to fall apart when Alex leaves the girls for a group of cooler guys. Jessica finds other girls to hang out with, and Hannah’s left by herself again.

Then Hannah is blindsided when she finds out that Alex and Jessica are dating. Ugh – who hasn’t felt the pain of being the third wheel.

Hannah is finally left completely friendless when Jessica yells at her and calls her a slut because Alex listed her as having the ‘hottest ass’ in school.

Why would Jessica feel mad at Hannah about a list she didn’t even write?

Why do we feel angry at other girls just because a guy likes them?

Natasha was 13 and had just started her first year at high school. She was really good at basketball and some guys had started to check her out when she played. Natasha had always looked a lot older then she was.

Sometimes that was nice, like being taken seriously, and sometimes annoying, like getting catcalled when she was 10. Jonah, one of the guys on the year 12 team, asked about her and some of the girls started saying he had a crush on her. Jonah was one of the most popular guys at school.

Once it got around school that Jonah was interested in Natasha an older group of girls started saying she was “full of herself” and “thought she was too good”. They started bumping into her in the hall or calling out to her at lunchtime, but as Natasha tried to ignore it got worse.

The more attention Jonah gave her, the worse it got. He started to find her in the playground at morning tea and lunch. Natasha like talking to him, but didn’t like the other attention it was getting her. The group started following her before and after school.

Natasha started coming late and wagging her last class just to avoid them. Jonah asked her out, and after saying she would think about it, she finally found a way to tell him she wasn’t ready. That didn’t stop his attention though, or the bullying. Her grades started to slip.

Natasha’s teachers noticed she was skipping school a lot and sent her to the guidance counselor. She didn’t want to, but she finally told him what was going on. They made a plan together about what to do about the girls’ bullying without making things worse for her.

Why are we ganging up on each other?

A wise woman on Mean Girls once said ‘you girls have GOT to stop calling each other sluts”. Slapping your friend isn’t reeeeeally what good friends do. What do you think Jessica would do if she could go back in time?