“I think that mean girls are getting meaner because with all the social media that’s going on these days it’s a lot easier for rumors to spread,” said Melody Munitz.

Amelia Rose Allen says she understands what it’s like to become the target of a mean girl.

“She would just criticize,” she said. “If I wore shorts with cowboy boots, she’d be like, ‘Oh that’s so ugly. Why would you come to school?’ And then at one point on the bus it got like physical. And then this year we decided to home school because it was enough.”

The girls say they know what motivates the bullies—meanness has become a pathway to popularity.

“I feel like most mean girls, they do it for power,” Devon Reilly explained.

Sometimes girls do it to remain part of a clique, and even if they’re not usually cruel, they say mean things to fit in.