Ever seen Mean Girls? If not, you should, it’s dang funny. But there is a serious side to it as well, which often gets overshadowed and overlooked. Maybe that’s because about ninety-percent of the movie is a comedy that mocks girl-against-girl crime, and only about ten-percent at the end actually sort of shows that it is, in fact, a real problem.

Meet Lauren. She is a smart, gorgeous, kind hearted 23 year old that had a pretty torturous experience throughout middle school. She started out as one of the “popular girls,” but a few of her “friends” decided to start a rumor, so the group decided to blackball her, and things quickly changed. Without going into every last detail, she became afraid of going to school because of rumors the girls started and overall mistreatment from people. These things led to an eating disorder, depression, and thoughts of suicide as a permanent escape from the torment. She doesn’t blame the girls, but those experiences led to her feeling stupid, ugly, worthless, and having an extremely low self-esteem during those years.

Lauren still has her diary from seventh grade and in it she wrote that someday she would do something about this issue. That day has come. As a film production student, she realized how much GOOD documentaries could do and how they could expose truth. She discussed her desire to address this issue in a documentary with her college friend Molly, and they decided to pursue this thing full force together. Lauren shared with us a story that instilled in her a desire to fight this battle until things have changed. Isabelle, a typical teenage girl, was at a slumber party with “friends” and she happened to be the first one to fall asleep. The other girls took sharpies and wrote horrible things on her face. She woke up early and saw herself in the mirror and felt embarrassed and humiliated. This poor girl absolutely did not want her parents to see her face like this, so she began scrubbing and scrubbing with a bristled brush until her skin bled. Lauren and Molly realized that this issue required more than just a documentary and needed to be a full-fledged organization. So, in February 2009, the girls established KIND Campaign.

They started filming last September and spent almost two months driving around the country to meet with and interview girls about their experiences. They visited schools and held assemblies to openly discuss this type of “crime” and were overwhelmed with the responsiveness of the girls. They witnessed teenagers crying, getting up to walk across the room to each other to apologize and embrace. Forgiveness was happening. Reconciliation was happening. They realized that this, KIND Campaign, was a movement. Now the website is extremely interactive, with opportunities to write apologies, sign a pledge, share on the truth wall, read the KIND online magazine, and more.

Lauren and Molly will embark on their second tour this September, when they’ll be premiering the documentary “Finding Kind” and speaking at more school assemblies. The future hope is to start school programs and KIND clubs across the country to tackle this issue.

I’m not sure if anyone can explain exactly why girls are so catty and mean to one another, but for whatever reason it is something that every single girl in every single school across America has experienced. Guaranteed. They have dealt it and they’ve received it. If you are a girl, like me, you know exactly what I’m talking about. And it’s got to stop. Girl-against-girl “crime” has become even easier to pursue and more out of control with all of the social media sites and texting replacing face to face encounters. It leads to anything from low self-esteem and depression to suicide. This is not a minor issue. Part of the problem is rooted in the fact that the media gives girls no real, positive, role models. We are inundated with images of gorgeous, perfect, flawless women who seem to be in constant competition with one another for men, love, fame, money, etc. But each one of us is responsible for our own actions and non-actions. So whether that means biting your tongue to keep from insulting someone or standing up for someone being verbally attacked to their face or behind their back, something must be done. We’ve all done it, but we can also all stop it. Once you are out of high school, you no longer have to deal with this type of “crime” much, as it seems to subside, but the problem is still alive and well at schools everywhere. As women, we need to talk about it with younger girls and be the positive role models that they need.

Get involved in the movement at www.kindcampaign.com