KEEPING SECRETS

Now that I I finally finished Gossip Girl it was time for a new series. On the recommendation of a friend, I started Pretty Little Liars. Again something with lying teenagers and unrealistic problems, perfect to follow up on Serena and Blair. Is on the Upper East Side everyone busy with the anonymous Gossip Girl, in Rosewood people are in a stir because of the mysterious A. She knows everyone's secrets and threatens to reveal them, which is undesirable. Just so you know, I've only seen 5 episodes so I don't know anything yet. Anyway, I was thinking a bit about secrets and why that concept seems fascinating enough for filmmakers and series writers to write about season after season.

So I did some research. I found a study from 2009 that shows that especially women (you wouldn't expect it) can't keep secrets. Tell a woman a secret and within 47 hours and a quarter, she has shared it with at least one person, no matter how personal or confidential the information is. 50% of women spill the secret because the secret in question doesn't sit well with them. An intense desire to gossip makes 30% of women looser-lipped than intended. Basically, all those things you confided to your girlfriend? There's a good chance that multiple ears have heard it.

Now I must say that I can't completely relate to those numbers. Not to pat myself on the back too much, but I'm quite good at keeping secrets. I think I gossip significantly less than many – yes, no, I can certainly appreciate a little gossip from time to time, but really mean and vile gossip is not my style. I take a certain pride in the fact that friends like to pour their hearts out to me and that they know everything they say will stay with me. And with Poes Disco, but she is really particularly discreet, you should know.

I'm often surprised at how quickly things spread in the gossip circuit, especially when it comes to non-earth-shattering information. The corridors in Amsterdam are deadly and lightning fast. The city is small, everyone knows each other, and everyone talks about each other. You can't let out a fart without everyone knowing it two days later, maddening. In that respect, it doesn't differ much from Gossip Girl or my new friends from Pretty Little Liars. By the way, according to that study, the best way to ensure your secrets don't leak is to simply never tell anyone. Well, there's some truth to that. Anyone who wants to vent can call me, Disco and I like to listen. Between watching the series, of course.