“Girl Math,” “Girl Dinner,” and the “Tradwife” obsession, with the dream of being financially dependent on one’s husband. I’d bet without a doubt that you’ve already come across some of these trends that have swept the global internet like wildfire.
As harmless or beneficial as this cultural movement may seem in the process of reconnecting with lost girlhood, it also reinforces conservative — and even supremacist — ideals. The harm caused by this propaganda isn’t exactly obvious at first glance, but it’s by no means superficial either.
“I’m just a girl”
Content shared on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram shows young women making irresponsible decisions about their financial lives, consciously eating too little and poorly, struggling to park their cars, and even longing for a partner with whom they can simply “turn off their brain”, all set to the 1990s hit “Just A Girl” by the band No Doubt. A song, commonly hailed as a “riot girl anthem”, that emerged as a satire and critique of the imposition of gender roles on women has become a backdrop to justify behaviors that reinforce the ideology that we are intellectually inferior.
Centuries of struggle to overturn certain patterns of thought, and yet we still find ourselves held hostage by the infantilization of the female persona.
“Campaigns such as ‘like a girl’ were created with the intention to empower young girls and specifically call out the use of such phrases as sexist. Have we regressed back to using the word ‘girl’ as a synonym for incapable?”, wonders Ariana Dell in an article for Lancaster University.
Patriarchy reinvents itself in different forms, but continues to rely on the same rhetoric that is no longer novel: it transforms the historically stereotypical characteristics associated with women into desirable traits that are accepted without causing shame.
The belief that a trend is merely a digital phenomenon and that it does not significantly influence the way gender is performed in society is naive. If the manosphere’s discourse succeeds in shaping boys’ view of the world they inhabit in just a few posts, this so-called “feminine” content is also very effective at infiltrating girls’ minds.
Why is this a girly trend?
Increasingly relentless debates about who should pay the bill on a first date, how certain tastes and customs might influence someone’s sexuality, and life goals being replaced by the fleeting satisfaction of baking homemade cakes on just another Thursday afternoon. I’m overwhelmed by the feeling that we’ve taken hundreds of steps backward — steps that are a world away from progress.
The “Tradwife” (or “traditional wife”) movement is an online craze in which young women give up their professional careers to devote themselves exclusively to caring for their homes, husbands, and children. Driven by the widespread burnout among women caused by the overload of work and household chores, this idealization of a bucolic, domestic life is marketed by influential figures with large followings, such as Nara Smith and Hannah Neeleman, as a refuge. A fresh start.
It sounds kind of glamorous, doesn’t it? Make no mistake: the attempt to combat the economic recession with a reactionary and conservative measure will be degrading to how a woman sees herself as a human being.
Researcher Rebecca Brandon comments: “Many of these women claim they are making a personal choice, but from a sociological perspective, an individual choice cannot be analyzed outside the context of class. This choice is only possible because of previous feminist achievements and because these influencers belong to a privileged class. They are women with husbands who have high purchasing power, and this does not reflect the reality of the majority.”
When we look closely at the various nuances of this scenario, we can see a direct link to the debate over women’s suffrage, right in the middle of election season. Are we going to keep letting this oppressive narrative manipulate our critical thinking? I hope not, because misogynistic and fascist rhetoric will return like a horror movie villain.
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The article above was edited by Alyah Gomes.
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