Photography by Iratxe Alvarez
The Girls
Eight portraits from the Rebel Girls book — young women speaking about their lives, their battles and their dreams.
DJENNA (12) & JORDANA (13)
"Boys in our class call girls cancer whores"
Best friends, both just starting secondary school. They hate the way boys call girls whores and pass comment on their bodies. They are proud of their mother, who is always in their corner.
SIDRA (15)
"Never stay silent about what makes you angry or sad"
In her first year of secondary school. She fled Syria with her family and reached the Netherlands by a long, roundabout route. Despite the wandering, she remains an optimist.
JADE (19)
"My sister, my mother and me — that's Us Against The World"
She saw 'Kung Fu Panda' as a toddler and was hooked. The fastest sprinter — but you can run too fast as well. Burnout taught her a great deal about herself. She now runs a kung fu school.
ALICIA (20)
"I teach girls that they can be role models too"
Training to be a pedagogical assistant. Kickboxes for a hobby and coaches younger girls. After a road accident she could not wait for the ambulance — and slipped her own kneecap back into place.
LILIAN (21)
"Scouting gave me a lot of self-confidence"
Reading occupational therapy, though her course makes little effort to accommodate her disability. A conversation about scouting, breast reduction and everything she plans to do.
IZA (24)
"As you grow older, you become more at peace with yourself"
She had a happy childhood and learned the most about herself once she started living on her own. She now lives with her girlfriend.
ADA (32)
"The ideal is for a woman's legs to be as thin as paper"
A GP from Hong Kong, currently doing a PhD on Alzheimer's in Amsterdam. On sexism in East Asia, and the new sense of freedom she has found in the Netherlands.
SIETSKE (34)
"My profession is taking girls into the mountains"
Leaving the armed forces after a career as an Air Force officer and moving to Austria. Throwing herself into her hiking company, 'Girls in the Mountains'.
Continue in the project
More from Rebel Girls
Sybilla Claus
Anthropologist, journalist and author. Author of Gender Rebels (2024) and the upcoming Rebel Girls (Spinifex, 2026).
Published by Uitgeverij 't Haantje · © Sybilla Claus