“That’s what she said aims to provide a voice for young girls and to act as a middleman between girls and society.”

explains creative director Izzy Whiteley who together with photographer Jess Gwyneth is behind this project where they documentary shoot young girls and interview them about what it is like to be a young girl now. “There are constant messages and media coverage about what adults think is affecting young girls but it is so rare we hear from the girls themselves. These girls are hurt by society, feel inadequate and most worrying many of them feel there is no point fighting for change as ‘this is just how the world is’. Our focus is on girls that are not usually celebrated in fashion, we like to put our focus on the girls that are often confused as to why we would want to photograph them. Fashion draws in and affects girls hugely. It is an undeniable force but to use this, often toxic industry, to create positive change is something that can be very powerful.” They plan to launch the website in early summer, however you can already check out their instagram.

“My sister gave me a book called the Equality Illusion by Kat Banyard in which she explains how we are often conditioned to believe that we are now equal, we have never had it so good, and that this can turn what seems like liberation into self objectification. After reading more and more about feminism and philosophy, my views on myself changed and the understanding of my life growing up became clearer. I really wanted to give girls a platform to voice their opinions and celebrate girls that never feel represented as beautiful or ‘cool’. Everything around is often adults talking about girls, people ignore the actual girls as they often think opinions at a young age are invalid- ‘you’ll grow out of it’. I want to encourage girls to question society and make a project that will force the issue so people understand there needs to be a change because we are bringing up a generation of girls that hate and don’t believe in themselves, and are, more importantly, silenced. Many girls don’t even know they have opinions until you ask them a certain question and it all comes pouring out. There is a lot of self blame around being a girl because we are conditioned to believe everything is our ‘choice’, but when something as strong as society is attacking you every day making a ‘choice’ isn’t as black and white as it seems.”

“Photos are powerful and fashion is a powerful platform. I wanted to be creative in the way that I did this project so it was different and took more notice than many other campaigns for girls that promote self love. I studied image making in fashion and know that the industry can be very powerful to girls but is also one of the main culprits in harming them. It can be a very dark and capitalist place. I wanted to use the industry to speak to the girls and try to make a change within it.

We want to create an open line of communication between young girls and society, away from judgment of peers, teachers and parents. We are hoping to launch the website in spring/summer 2016 and I encourage any girls who want to have their say to contact us through our Instagram @thatswhatss. Most of all, I want the next generation of girls to be informed, ask questions and be activists without having to be over exposed. I want to teach girls we do not have to feel this bad, this is not ingrained in our gender, never conform or lay down for a society that is broken.”