Gen Z women are reporting record levels of depression and anxiety – but why did liberal girls fall first and fastest? In this episode of The Deep, Erika breaks down the data on feminism, therapy culture, social media, and locus of control – and asks whether feminism actually engineered a female mental-health crisis.

Timestamps:

0:00 - Intro: Feminism has left women more depressed
0:59 - Barbie and Feminism 101: “It’s impossible to be a woman”
3:31 - Shocking mental health statistics
5:58 - Distorted “therapy culture”
9:05 - Social media fuels the fire
12:01 - Fragility vs. resilience 
13:02 - Agency and locus of control
14:58 - A spiritual renewal
17:42 - Conclusion: Choosing the counter narrative

Sources:

American Survey Center. Generation Z and the Transformation of American Adolescence: How Gen Z’s Formative Experiences Shape Its Politics, Priorities, and Future. Washington, DC: Survey Center on American Life, 2023. Accessed December 5, 2025.
https://www.americansurveycenter.org/research/generation-z-and-the-transformation-of-american-adolescence-how-gen-zs-formative-experiences-shape-its-politics-priorities-and-future/.

Cox, Daniel A. “The Despair of Young Liberal Women.” Survey Center on American Life Newsletter, March 23, 2023. Accessed December 5, 2025.
https://www.americansurveycenter.org/newsletter/the-despair-of-young-liberal-women/.

Haidt, Jon. “Why the Mental Health of Liberal Girls Sank First and Fastest.” After Babel (Substack), March 9, 2023. Accessed December 5, 2025.
https://www.afterbabel.com/p/mental-health-liberal-girls.

Horowitz, Juliana Menasce, et al. “Teens, Social Media, and Technology 2024.” Pew Research Center, December 12, 2024. Accessed December 5, 2025.
https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2024/12/12/teens-social-media-and-technology-2024/.

Kahle, Lynette. “Study Shows 42% of Gen Z Have Diagnosed Mental Health Condition.” Christian Post, February 6, 2023. Accessed December 5, 2025.
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Klein, Ezra. “America Ferrera Is Not Angry. She’s Just Telling the Truth.” New York Times, January 1, 2024. Accessed December 5, 2025.
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Levy, Neil, et al. “Adolescent Mental Health and Digital Media Use.” Current Opinion in Psychology 36 (2021): 1–6. Accessed December 5, 2025.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666560321000438.

McCaffree, Kevin. “Why Are Young Liberals So Depressed?” Slow Boring, April 12, 2023. Accessed December 5, 2025.
https://www.slowboring.com/p/why-are-young-liberals-so-depressed.

Nagle, Angela. Kill All Normies: Online Culture Wars from 4chan and Tumblr to Trump and the Alt-Right. Winchester, UK: Zero Books, 2017.

Pen and Sword Editors. “Margaret More Roper: The Female Tudor Scholar.” Pen & Sword Blog, March 8, 2022. Accessed December 5, 2025.
https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/blog/margaret-more-roper-the-female-tudor-scholar/.

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https://redstockings.org/images/stories/CatalogPDFs/FR/43-Feminist-Revolution-Appendix-Redstockings-Principles.pdf.

SSRS. Mind the Gap: Understanding the Gender Divide in Mental Health. SSRS Insight Report, 2023. Accessed December 5, 2025.
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Thriving Center of Psychology. “Gen Z and Millennial Therapy Statistics.” Thriving Center of Psychology Blog, 2023. Accessed December 5, 2025.
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Wilcox, W. Bradford, and Grant Bailey. “Why So Blue? Liberal Women Are Less Happy, More Lonely. But Why?” Institute for Family Studies, February 18, 2025. Accessed December 5, 2025.
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