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Sex, Death, and Cannibalism: Little Girl on Humans of New York Page Goes Viral for Discussing Topics Adults Avoid

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A young girl is calling out adults for dumbing down or avoiding "heavy" topics like sex, death and cannibalism.

In a photo posted to the social media accounts of the popular blog Humans of New York on Tuesday, the red-headed girl is crouching in what appears to be a park in New York City with a book in her lap. She is looking at the camera, her pupils peering over the top rim of her glasses. In conversation with Brandon Stanton, the blog's creator, the girl questions adults' tendency to tone down some topics and "avoid the heavy themes like sex and death and cannibalism," despite her own eagerness to discuss those realities.

"Adults guess and assume that I'm not going to understand things just because I'm a little kid," said the girl. "And it can be frustrating. Cause, like, I really want to know stuff. Or even when they do talk to me about things, they'll always try to 'tone it down to my level.'"

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“Adults guess and assume that I’m not going to understand things just because I’m a little kid. And it can be frustrating. Cause, like, I really want to know stuff. Or even when they do talk to me about things, they’ll always try to ‘tone it down to my level.’ They especially avoid the heavy themes like sex and death and cannibalism and stuff. But that’s stuff I want to talk about. I’m really fascinated by the Donner Party. The entire expedition-- really. What did it feel like to eat people that you knew? I’m also fascinated by how the human mind deals with death. It’s like people shut down the idea of death completely, and insist that heaven and hell are places after death. But death is death. And everyone after death is dead, because consciousness is just your brain. And even if there is evidence of life after death, it’s difficult to assess. We’re going to be incredibly biased toward any information that suggests there’s something more. Because we are so desperate to believe it.”

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The girl expressed a particular interest in the Donner Party, a group of emigrants from Illinois who famously turned to cannibalism to survive after getting trapped by snowfall along their journey west, to California, in the 19th century.

"The entire expedition—really. What did it feel like to eat people that you knew? I'm also fascinated by how the human mind deals with death. It's like people shut down the idea of death completely, and insist that heaven and hell are places after death," the girl told Stanton.

She continued: "But death is death. And everyone after death is dead, because consciousness is just your brain. And even if there is evidence of life after death, it's difficult to assess. We're going to be incredibly biased toward any information that suggests there's something more. Because we are so desperate to believe it."

The post went viral, with many social media users praising the little girl for her curiosity and eloquence.

One Twitter user wrote: "Stay this way child! Stay curious and never let anyone stifle you!!"

Other users across Twitter and Instagram expressed an interesting in talking to the girl, with one Instagram user adding that she understands the girl's perspective, with regard to dialogues between children and adults.

The user wrote: "I want to have a conversation with her! I hate when people tell me to "tone things down" for my kids. Why? They're small people, not idiots."

Girls read educational books at an adolescent youth center in Uganda.
Girls read educational books at an adolescent youth center in Uganda. The girls are offered critical life skills training to help them manage social issues. Photo by Neil Thomas/Corbis via Getty Images
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