Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that even though there's plenty of questionable behavior from both parents and teens in Girl in Progress, it's also a cautionary tale about what happens when you try to be an adult before you're ready for the consequences. In the main teen character's search for rites of passage to experience, she insults and dumps her best friend, steals money from her mother, changes her appearance, manipulates an adult into buying alcohol, and plans to lose her virginity to the school's resident "player." The language is mostly insults (particularly the word "retarded" and its derivatives), but sexual content includes some mature scenes of the mother and her married lover kissing (sex is implied) and a sequence in which a teen casually tries to schedule her "deflowering" (she's shown stripping to her panties and bra, and the guy is seen shirtless as he fumbles with a condom). This is the kind of coming-of-age tale that can spark substantive conversations between parents and kids.
Sexual
Content
Ansiedad describes her mother as promiscuous, and Grace is shown getting ready in a sexy outfit to meet her lover, a married man. Grace and the doctor are shown half dressed on the floor (presumably after sex); they kiss a few times. Ansiedad tells a guy she wants him to "take her virginity" at a party; they proceed to share a kiss (her first), and then the guy is shown shirtless in the bathroom fumbling with a condom. Ansiedad strips down to her bra and panties and then throws her panties on the floor. Although they don't end up having sex, they run out of the room, and everyone calls Ansiedad a slut, as the guy says, "I hit that."
Violence
Not applicable
Language
Teens say the word "retarded" or "tard" many times, and in one scene, a bunch of people chant the word "slut" to Ansiedad. One girl is called "fat" and a "cow." Language also includes "stupid," "shoot," "damn," etc.
Social
Behavior
Girl in Progress illustrates the importance of open communication between parents and children. Grace isn't really aware of what Ansiedad is going through, and it causes an emotional rift that could have been avoided had the two talked more openly and shared their feelings. Ansiedad's misguided attempt to grow up offers an important example of how trying to act like a grown-up before you're ready is a bad idea. She hurts her best friend, nearly destroys her academic career, and nearly has sex for the worst of reasons.
Consumerism
Grace drives her friend's old Volvo wagon, and a BMW is shown a couple of times. A Macbook Pro makes a brief appearance.
Drugs / Tobacco /
Alcohol
Teens drink -- a lot -- at a couple of parties. Ansiedad convinces an adult to buy a bottle of tequila (under the premise that it's a birthday gift for her mother), and she gives it to the group throwing the party. A couple of adults smoke cigarettes and/or a pipe. Graces drinks so much at a party that she wakes up hung over. A male nurse at a home for the elderly regularly drinks from a hidden flask.
