By Linda Kim
GURL.com is a website for teenage girls age thirteen and older. Its
purpose is to be an online community for adolescent girls where they
can interact with each other, express concerns and share
experiences, and find information about issues relevant to them. The
environment at gURL.com is supposed to be nonjudgmental and free,
where issues like sexuality, emotions, and body image can be dealt
with frankly and openly. Girls can join the community through free
membership from the website. Members can contribute to the site's
content with writing, art, and music submissions, through personal
homepages, chats and posting boards. They can also have a free,
web-based email account and subscribe to the gURL newsletter.
The content of the website is organized much like a typical
magazine published for teens (YM, Seventeen, Teen, etc.). From the
homepage of gURL.com, girls can access webpages about emotional,
physical and sexual issues that adolescents go through or are
curious about. Other webpages dealing with entertainment, sports,
an advice column, and current special features are also available.
Much of the website is interactive as well, such as the virtual
makeover and the "boy band" game. Members of gURL.com can
participate in contests and polls, send shoutouts, gURLgrams and
e-cards to other members and their friends, and listen to gURL radio
or watch gURL video. In fact, gURL video features contributions by
gURL.com members. Members can also create and post their personal
webpage on gURLpages and express their opinion about relevant issues
on a posting board, "dig or dis." A sample of issues that
appear on
gURL.com is: standardized tests, abstinence, pornography, feminism,
depression, sex, wearing thongs, etc.
GURL.com is a comprehensive forum for interaction among teenage
girls. Since it is interactive and gets much of its content from its
users, the website is much more appealing than a typical teen
magazine published on paper. Members' contributions appear quickly,
if not instantly. With membership status and the ability to have a
voice in the content of a website, gURL.com users can also gain a
sense of ownership of the website and a sense of belonging to
something where they are making a difference. Girls not only read
about issues they care about, but also chat with other girls,
publish their opinions, share their talents and artwork, and see all
this appear in a medium that can be accessed by the world. It can
be
very empowering and amusing for adolescent girls.
This website is a great way to reach teenagers, especially with
young people's increasing use of the internet. The site is easy to
use and provides a lot to do up front. The content and forms of
interaction provided are appealing to the target audience, and the
presentation is colorful, eye-catching, and "hip" with unique
icons
and graphics. Even with all these attractions on gURL.com, however,
I wonder if a good, face-to-face conversation with a girlfriend or
older sister is much more satisfying and helpful in dealing with
some issues as an teenager. The online community at gURL.com
provides a good place for some communication and publication, but
it
cannot take the place of solid, intimate relationships that are so
instrumental and important in adolescence.