Thirteen Problems with 13 Reasons Why
Two weeks ago Netflix released 13 Reasons Why , a series that diverges dramatically from the book by Jay Asher that was published in 2007. The episodes are extremely intense. It deals with bullying, sexual shaming of girls, rape, and suicide. This series is set in a public high school and it shows two graphic rape scenes, and a very graphic scene of suicide. The premise is that a girl has died by suicide and left cassette tapes behind narrating the 13 reasons she killed herself, each reason is a person. If you have teens in your life you should assume they are either watching this or know about this series. The show’s handling of teen suicide does NOT follow best practices for preventing suicide. Nor do they provide any resources for support. Our 7th and 8th grade students were taught about suicide prevention in January through the Lifelines Curriculum. Sadly, this series is contradictory to what they learned to help a friend or to help themselves. I am very co