IN this heartbreaking profile of a female University of Pennsylvania freshman who committed suicide last year, readers will find many themes discussed at this site, including the phenomenon of weird masculine names for girls, the cult of athletics and success, immodesty and near-nakedness in women, the narcissism of social media and the vitalistic emptiness of modern childhood. This girl died in a calculated act of will, which does not seem that surprising given that her will had been assiduously and expensively cultivated in the sort of hyper-competitive sports that are now pushed on women from all sides, even by the federal government. She clearly wanted out from under the college sports racket. She wanted out, but was seemingly too afraid of disappointing others or shedding the identity of an athlete.

— Comments —

Bruce writes:

Good catch. Names that mean “son of ……” seem pretty masculine to me too.

Bruce adds:

People now seem to choose names based on how “cute” or “cool” the name seems. So the process of name selection seems emotion-driven. Observing people around us, it seems that the wife generally is the one driving this trend. In most cases now, the wife seems to get her way when it comes to naming the child.

My least favorite of the newly popular girls name is “Mackenzie” which apparently means “son of Coinnich.”

Kimberly writes:

I wish I hadn’t read her story and I wish that some nice, motherly woman could have met that poor girl and told her that she had a right to her own life as a woman. Mostly I wish her father had a son instead of making his daughters into Amazons. I don’t blame him. Our society says a girl must be in constant motion or she is worthless.

Laura writes:

Yes.

She actually did have a brother, but I think your point still stands. One of the saddest moments is when she encounters the coach from another university right before she jumps to her death. He was still interested in recruiting her. She was encouraged to keep going from all sides, up to the last moment. There are lots of jobs now, a whole athletic industrial complex, built on making girls like her into Amazons. Sports generates excitement. The insistence on excitement is a sign of emptiness and nihilism.

The “take away” from all this for the family is that it’s important to talk about depression and recognize the early signs. But Madison talked a lot about her feelings — to therapists, friends and family.

The message should be: Feminist sports kill. They dangerously cultivate the will, which can be turned to destruction. They are masculinizing and meaningless.

Mary M. writes:

I read thru most of this article and I kept thinking, yeah, this is terrible but I wonder did this young woman believe in God, belong to any church, anything God-related in her life??  I see she had a loving family and friends, but evidently that was not enough to stop her from suicide.   It is horrible that she killed herself – and it is a grave sin too. Modern life is empty at best and downright evil too often – and very rarely is God even mentioned.

Just came across your blog lately, very interesting!!

Laura writes:

Thanks.

Apparently no one ever talked to her about the moral aspects of suicide and that she may suffer after she kills herself. They sent her to a therapists who gave her more nothingness.

I said, feminist sports kill, but that is only another way of saying godlessness kills. This whole idolatry of sports is a pagan cult.

Mary writes:

Truly heartbreaking story. Yes, constant “excitement” and stimulation are addictive, and girls in “constant motion” know no peace. There was an entire network of people formed around this girl – parents, friends, teammates, coaches, teachers, former coaches and teachers, etc. etc. – that would be let down if she “failed.” I think some of these public school kids who are shooting for the Ivy League (Penn is an Ivy League school) work literally like dogs to get in – the odds are totally against them and when they succeed they are in the .1%, the elite, they are the stars of their public schools. But in September, they are nobody – they are in a school full of some others like them, but many more who have been raised in the elite culture, attended exclusive prep schools, children of Senators and CEOs, or kids that are so naturally brilliant that they make the academics look effortless. I read about this girl last year and I remember the article saying she was a triple major – she obviously had no idea how tough things were going to be and I’m guessing her parents didn’t either. She also entered as an athlete, when many of the more brilliant kids in the Ivy League are not athletes at all and can focus on academics and not have to worry about a heavy training schedule and heavy obligations – they can spend their days in the library. I think she was overwhelmed and bewildered and didn’t want to face disappointing anyone or give in to weakness. I think there is a danger in telling kids, whether boys or girls, that they can do anything. It sounds like a positive thing but could be interpreted by the child as very high expections. The Ivy League was that for this girl. It was her own goal but everyone was telling her: You can do it.

Laura wrote: “The insistence on excitement is a sign of emptiness and nihilism.”

Yes. And in this regard I don’t think the dangers of social media can be overstated, though we won’t hear much about it in the press. When we curate our lives to appear exciting on Instagram we move toward emptiness because it’s a false reality. And what could be more depressing than scanning other people’s Instagram accounts and seeing how wonderful their lives are (even while one knows that these feeds are curated to show only the best)? It’s like looking at someone’s photo album showing the highlights of their lives, but every single day. The eyes are the windows to the soul: what the eyes see, they believe. This girl and her friends had their own Instagram feeds and looked at those of others daily, and even knowing they themselves only posted the good things they believed the lives of others were very, very happy and successful, and better than their own. So incredibly dangerous, especially to the young and inexperienced.

Sandra writes:

Mary, you expressed just what I was thinking. Imagine how exciting the day must have been for Madison when she got her acceptance letter from Penn. Getting into the right school becomes a career and once the acceptance letter arrives no one ever tells these young people that the problems are just beginning. What a let-down it must be to see it was all a fantasy, to think there’s such a thing as a perfect school or place.

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