How Girlhood Became a Product

Summary

Morning Wire — "How Girlhood Became a Product"

Date: June 14, 2026
Hosts: Georgia Howe, John Bickley
Guest: Freya India, author of Generation Z and the Commodification of Everything

---

Episode Overview

This episode explores the transformation of girlhood in the age of technology, social media, and consumer culture. Host Georgia Howe interviews Freya India about her new book, Girls™ (stylized with a trademark symbol), which investigates how contemporary society has turned the experience of growing up female into something commodified, measured, and sold. The discussion dives deeply into the loss of traditional social anchors, the rise of performative identity, and the industries profiting from the insecurities and loneliness of young women.

---

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Concept Behind "Girls™"

• Trademark Symbol’s Significance
  • Freya India introduces the idea that girls today are viewed—and view themselves—less as people and more as products.
  • Quote:

    "I wanted to basically have some kind of concept for how radically different girls experience the world today and see themselves versus previous generations. And my argument in the book is yes, that we've become something more like products." (Freya India, 04:02)

2. The Performance and Public Pressure of Modern Girlhood

• Life as a Constant Performance
  • Unlike previous generations, today's girls are compelled to publicly manage their relationships, successes, and failures on social media.
  • Quote:

    "We're performing everything for other people. So we're performing our first relationships, our first crushes. Even if we have a heartbreak and a breakup, we're having to post that online and kind of manage our reputation and our image." (Freya India, 04:55)

  • This environment breeds deep insecurity and is "an exhausting way to live." (05:49)

3. Deep Roots Beyond Smartphones

• Preexisting Social Fragmentation
  • India's analysis reaches beyond mere technological blame, pointing to decades of weakened family ties, community disconnect, and declining religious engagement.
  • Quote:

    "Decades before the smartphone, we were having so many of our sort of foundations and our grounding being taken away. [...] Then when social media platforms came along, they provided these perfect simulations of things that we'd never experienced in the first place." (Freya India, 06:04)

  • The vacuum left by eroded institutions was filled by online platforms and companies preying on the need for connection and security.

4. Exploitation by Modern Industries

• Monetizing Insecurity and Loneliness
  • Major industries—beauty, wellness, therapy, and especially tech—have seized on the vulnerabilities of young women, marketing products that simulate belonging and self-improvement.
  • Quote:

    "The therapy companies were almost offering a replacement for friends and family. [...] They use the language of loneliness and belonging because they know that's what young girls and young men are feeling." (Freya India, 07:08)

  • The episode notes a dangerous trend: pathologizing normal distress, leading young people to believe they're inherently broken or need "professional" solutions.

5. The Loneliness Epidemic

• Root Causes
  • Screen time, loss of real-world connections, and internalized belief in relationship instability compound the epidemic of loneliness among Gen Z.
  • Quote:

    "We're spending more time on screens, [...] but also there's the background to that. There's growing up in unstable families. There's just a sense as well, I think, that relationships can't last." (Freya India, 08:41)

6. The Collapse of the "Linchpin" Institutions

• Community and Religion's Absence
  • For many young people, community means online groups, not local or religious gatherings—a profound generational shift.
  • Quote:

    "We don't know our neighbors. [...] A lot of older generations would have grown up in or around [religious communities] and from our generation, we've never experienced anything like it." (Freya India, 09:45)

  • This lack of real-world obligations and fellowship exacerbates feelings of isolation and social discomfort.

7. Signs of Hope

• Young People's Growing Awareness and Care
  • India finds hope in the feedback to her book: both young women expressing solidarity, and young men showing concern for females in their lives.
  • Quote:

    "It's been really reassuring to have young women say they've also felt so anxious and not quite had the language to describe why. [...] There's been a lot of young men who are worried about the girlfriends or the sisters or women in their lives and want to help." (Freya India, 10:46)

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Modern Girlhood as Product:

  "So much of my anxiety was to do with marketing myself online, marketing my relationships, basically figuring out all of the stress of growing up but doing it publicly on Instagram." (Freya India, 04:02)

• Simulated Social Anchors:

  "Our first experience with off community was on Instagram, or our first experience of relationships was from online porn." (Freya India, 06:04)

• Systemic Shift, Not Individual Fault:

  "We replaced [institutions] with professionals and experts. [...] Young people are really suffering, but then they're being told that they're suffering because there's something wrong with them." (Freya India, 07:08)

• Generational Divide on Community:

  "Sometimes I talk to conservatives and they have no idea that there's young people who have literally never stepped into a church or spoken to a Christian or had any experience of an in person community where you meet up every week and you're expected to have obligations to one another." (Freya India, 09:45)

---

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [00:33] — Freya India's overview of cultural breakdown and the impact on young women
• [04:02] — The meaning behind "Girls™" and the productization of girlhood
• [04:55] — How public performance shapes today’s girls’ identities
• [06:04] — Root causes: social collapse before smartphones and the vacuum filled by tech
• [07:08] — How industries profit from female distress and the simulation of connection
• [08:41] — Primary drivers of the loneliness epidemic
• [09:45] — The generational loss of real communities and religious institutions
• [10:46] — Signs of hope in solidarity among young people

---

Summary

This episode of Morning Wire provides a thought-provoking examination of the crisis facing today’s young women, framing it as a product of deep social fragmentation and the commodification of identity. Freya India's insights draw attention to issues going beyond screen time: the loss of community, the breakdown of family, and the replacement of authentic support with corporations and professionals who monetize normal growing pains. Despite this, she sees the beginnings of a movement toward empathy and community among Gen Z—a hope that honest conversation and recognition of these issues can open doors to real connection and reform.

---

Transcript

[Host Announcer]

Still waiting in line. Again, that's time you will never get back. Save time and money with stamps.com over 4 million businesses have skipped the line with stamps.com join them to save up to 90% off carrier rates from your computer or phone right now. Print postage for certified mail, registered mail and packages in seconds. Then schedule a pickup right from your home or office for a limited time. Go to stamps.com and use code podcast for a free welcome gift. Taxes and fees apply.

[Freya India]

We have had our families break down. We don't know our neighbors, we don't have communities, so we don't have any of these anchors. And that is why I think when the social media platforms came in, they really destroyed young women because they offered substitutes and simulations of these things that we didn't have in the first place.

[Host Announcer]

That was author Freya India discussing her new book, Generation Z and the Commodification of Everything. India argues that the deeper story is how technology, social media and modern consumer culture have transformed girls from people into products and turned nearly every aspect of adolescence into something to be bought, sold, measured and monetized.

[Georgia Howe]

Freya joins the podcast today to discuss her new book and the broader issues facing girls today. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Executive editor John Bickley, and this is a weekend episode of Morning Wire.

[Sponsor Reader]

Morning walks, coffee runs, beach days, weekend trips, whatever it is for you this summer, you'll end up reaching for the same comfortable clothes again and again. That is, unless you pick up something new from Fabletics. Then you'll reach for that. I just picked up running and even in the early mornings it is such a hot and sweaty endeavor. So having something from Fabletics has been a total game changer for my routine. The materials are soft and breathable and have pockets, which is really helpful. So there's no more running with keys in my hand. One thing I love about Fabletics, beyond the material, is that it makes refreshing your summer wardrobe way less expensive. When you sign up as a new VIP, you get 70 to 80% off off everything. Fabletics makes it easy to stock up on athleisure and everyday summer staples like linen pieces, and this quality has totally blown me away. What I like most is how easy everything is to wear. You can throw on a matching set for a workout, errands, travel days, or just being out and about and still feel put together. Shop [e-mail] wire to get 70 to 80% off everything when you sign up as a new VIP. Take a quick style quiz and be sure to select Wire when prompted to unlock this offer. This is a limited time offer, so don't wait again. That's fabletics.com wire for 70 to 80% off everything as a new VIP spring is here and your yard probably needs some love after winter. Our sponsor, Fast Growing Trees, is America's largest and most trusted online nursery with thousands of trees and plants and over 2 million happy customers. Think of it as your local nursery, available anywhere with a bigger selection than you'll find anywhere else. From fruit and privacy trees to flowering varieties, shrubs and houseplants, every plant is grown with care and guaranteed to arrive healthy. Simply click, order and grow to create your dream yard with options that fit your climate, space and lifestyle. I ordered two bambino fiddle leaf figs. So they're small but they are so adorable and they arrived in beautiful condition. Healthy, happy and my living room is forever changed. Their alive and thrive guarantee ensures your plants arrive happy and healthy, backed by ongoing support from trained plant experts to help you plan, choose and care for your new greenery. Right now they have great deals on spring planting essentials, up to half off on select plants and listeners to our show get 20% off their first purchase when using the code wire at checkout. That's an additional 20% off. Better plants and better growing at fastgrowingtrees.com using the code wire at checkout fastgrowingtrees.com code wire now is the perfect time to plant. Let's grow together. Use wire to save today. Offer is valid for a limited time. Terms and conditions may apply.

[Georgia Howe]

Joining us now to discuss the book is author Freya India. Freya, thanks for coming on.

[Freya India]

Thank you so much for having me.

[Georgia Howe]

Now, the title of your book is Girls with a Little Trademark Symbol. What does that symbol represent? And when did you start to feel that girls were being turned into products rather than just growing up?

[Freya India]

Yeah, I wanted to basically have some kind of concept for how radically different girls experience the world today and see themselves versus previous generations. And my argument in the book is yes, that we've become something more like products. And honestly, I just felt that way growing up. I felt that so much of my anxiety was to do with marketing myself online, marketing my relationships, basically figuring out all of the stress of growing up but doing it publicly on Instagram.

[Georgia Howe]

Now you make an important distinction in the book that girls have always struggled with insecurity and fitting in. Of course, every female listener, and probably most men male listeners will agree with that. Just the challenge of finding your place in the world as you grow up. What do you think Makes the experience of growing up today fundamentally different than what previous generations dealt with.

[Freya India]

I think mostly we're performing everything for other people. So we're performing our first relationships, our first crushes. Even if we have a heartbreak and a breakup, we're having to post that online and kind of manage our reputation and our image. And we're doing this from a very young age, from puberty. And so sometimes people say to me, oh, why do young women make these certain decisions? Why do girls behave this way? And I think a lot of the time it really makes sense. If you think. Think about where we've grown up, we've grown up on these platforms where we're being rated and reviewed by other people all of the time. And that influences how we view ourselves and what we value, and it influences our future as well. What decisions we make, the relationships we have. It's all to do with performing for other people. And I think that it might look vain to older generations and to men, but I think for women, it really is insecurity and it's an exhausting way to live.

[Georgia Howe]

Now a lot of people are going to point to smartphones and social media and say, well, there you go, there's the cause. It's not rocket science. But you argue that those technologies are only part of the larger story. What aspects do you think people are missing?

[Freya India]

So I think really two things happened to my generation. So decades before the smartphone, we were having so many of our sort of foundations and our grounding being taken away. And so our families were falling apart, we had collapsing communities, we were less religious than previous generations. And so I think we had so little to sort of hold onto. And then when social media platforms came along, they provided these perfect simulations of things that we'd never experienced in the first place. And so our first experience with off community was on Instagram, or our first experience of relationships was from online porn. And so I think we had this vacuum that companies were ready to feel and exploit.

[Georgia Howe]

Now, one theme throughout the book is that industries increasingly are profiting from girls insecurities, whether it's beauty or wellness or therapy or just social media apps in general. When did you start to suspect that some of these institutions that were actually claiming to help young women were also benefiting from their distress?

[Freya India]

I think, because like I said, it was a lot of simulations being sold to us. And I almost just started to realize that this was not the real thing. They're actually bad incentives with this new version. So, for example, the therapy companies were almost offering a replacement for friends and family. You know, they were saying that they could give us advice through coming of age, they could help us with dating, they could do all of these things that parents used to do. And all throughout the book, I talk about these companies that use the language of loneliness and belonging because they know that's what young girls and young men are feeling. They really desperately want to belong somewhere. And so we have social media companies and porn companies in the mental health industry, all offering their alternatives to human connection. People really underestimate how much young people think that their problems can be solved through professional intervention or even medication. And so I think a lot of the institutions and the foundations we spoke about that have fallen apart or stepped back. We've replaced them with professionals and experts. And so you have young people who have been put through so much, so much change in the world and then are thinking that they're the problem and getting diagnosed with a disorder. So I think it really is the worst two things happening at the same time, where young people are really suffering, but then they're being told that they're suffering because there's something wrong with them.

[Georgia Howe]

Now, the book talks a lot about loneliness and disconnection. What do you think the primary driver for this loneliness epidemic is for your generation?

[Freya India]

I think it's a few things. I would say that obviously we're spending more time on screens, more time simulating being in person together and replacing human interaction. But also there's the background to that. There's growing up in unstable families. There's just a sense as well, I think, that relationships can't last. I think for a lot of young women and young men, they haven't actually seen stable relationships. And so it's then magnified by growing up online where you see these really depressing takes on men and women. You see men and women more divided than ever. You might grow up watching online porn. And your version of relationships is just so depressing. And I think we just have way fewer examples in real life than previous generations once did.

[Georgia Howe]

Now, you've argued that, of course, there's the technology that came up with your generation and mine as well to some degree, but also that institutions weakened at the same time. Which institutions do you feel were the linchpins holding things together that have become weaker at this point?

[Freya India]

Yeah, I think there's a few, I think, that older generations don't quite realize how little experience my generation has of communities. So, you know, we don't know our neighbors. We don't. We haven't had that experience. All we really think about when we think about community is Instagram and Reddit and all of these online substitutes. And then you think of something like a religious community that a lot of older generations would have grown up in or around and from our generation. We've never experienced anything like it. And sometimes I talk to conservatives and they have no idea that there's young people who have literally never stepped into a church or spoken to a Christian or had any experience of an in person community where you meet up every week and you're expected to have obligations to one another. I think that we've had so few practice of socializing with people and having to turn up to something.

[Georgia Howe]

Now you've obviously written about all the things that have gone wrong. Is there anything that gives you hope for this next generation?

[Freya India]

Yeah, I think actually the response to the book has given me hope. I think that when I was growing up I often just thought this is just me struggling with these things. So it's been really reassuring to have young women say they've also felt so anxious and not quite had the language to describe why. And also having a response from young men. There's been a lot of young men who are worried about the girlfriends or the sisters or women in their lives and want to help. And I think if you scroll through Twitter you wouldn't expect that. But I think it is happening. We are starting to care about each other.

[Georgia Howe]

Freya, thank you so much for coming on and talking about this.

[Freya India]

Thank you so much. I've really loved it.

[Host Announcer]

That was Freya India discussing her new book, Generation Z and the Commodification of Everything. And this has been a weekend edition of Morning Wire. Still waiting in line again, that's time you will never get back. Save time and money with stamps.com over 4 million businesses have skipped the line with stamps.com join them to save up to 90% off carrier rates from your computer or phone right now. Print postage for certified mail, registered mail and packages in seconds. Then schedule a pickup right from your home or office for a limited time. Go to stamps.com and use code podcast for a free welcome gift. Taxes and fees apply.