Rope! The Latest Teen Girl Fad

The podcast episode from Based Camp with Malcolm and Simone Collins dives into alarming CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) data on youth mental health and suicide ideation (euphemistically called "youth in Asia," "joining the euthanasia," or "speed running life" to skirt filters). They discuss 2023 statistics showing persistently high rates of persistent sadness/hopelessness (especially among girls at ~53%), serious consideration of suicide (~27% for girls, ~14% for boys overall), planning, and attempts—rates that barely declined post-COVID lockdowns and remain shockingly elevated.

The hosts argue modern school culture, urban monoculture, social contagion, affluence/leisure, and lack of hardship (e.g., small families vs. large ones creating built-in resilience) contribute to this crisis. They critique mainstream parenting/schooling as dangerously "normal" and advocate for pronatalist, counter-cultural family strategies—like large families for forced hardship, framing your family as discriminated against by dominant culture, or custom holidays to instill gratitude and purpose.

They touch on related topics: higher rates in affluent/elite environments, comparisons to communities like trans or furries, gender differences (girls more ideation/plans, boys more completion when attempting), dystopian cravings in female psychology, nihilism's social appeal, and the need for meaning beyond pleasure/validation.

This episode challenges viewers to reject mainstream norms, build resilient subcultures, and prioritize family structures that combat these trends.

Timestamps:

[00:00] Intro and euphemisms for suicide ("youth in Asia," "joining the euthanasia," "speed running life")

[01:00] Shocking 2021 CDC data recap: ~24% of young girls planned suicide in any given year; 2023 update shows only minor drop to ~21%

[02:30] Post-COVID trends: Slight improvement in girls' mental health, but still over 1 in 5 planning; surprise it's not worse with return to school

[04:00] Analogy: If any school/group had 1 in 5 girls planning suicide, it'd be seen as a cult—yet "school" is every school; higher in affluent suburbs/elite settings

[06:30] Affluence link: More self-harm/ideation in wealthy/bougie environments; elite boarding school anecdotes; classical Christian schools likely only marginally better

[09:00] High-risk communities: Trans (~45-50%), furries (~35-40%); dissociation and self-hatred as common threads

[11:00] Furry discussion: Not all attraction = community risk; importance of not pushing kids into identities; mainstream media examples (Lola Bunny)

[13:30] Persistent sadness/hopelessness: ~53% girls (down from 57%), ~28% boys (no change); not normal—puberty's rough, but large families help moderate

[16:00] Large families as protective: Built-in hardship, less rumination time; rage over siblings angst; forced perspective-taking

[19:00] Serious consideration: Girls down to ~27% (from 30%), boys stable ~14%; attempts stable high for girls (~13%)

[21:30] Gender differences: Girls more ideation/plans (histrionic/contagion elements?); boys follow through more lethally; enemy within worse for girls

[24:00] Cultural roots: Pleasure/validation-based purpose fails teens; nihilism seductive; urban monoculture glorifies victimhood/weakness; women crave dystopias when absent

[30:00] Solutions: Frame family as opposed by dominant culture; create holidays (e.g., historical hardship weeks over Thanksgiving); expose kids to mortality (dead bodies, death talks)

[35:00] Broader fixes: Talk death more (e.g., Día de los Muertos style); large families + purpose/meaning essential; reject "normal" as dangerous

[39:00] Closing: Stay far away from mainstream; build weird/resilient families; outro chit-chat (food, health, love you/don't die jokes)