Have you ever looked for a community, thinking you’d fit in, only to discover that everyone’s just competing to see who’s the best? It is always exciting to find people with similar interests, feeling like you have found like-minded individuals who truly understand you. It provides a sense of community and kinship, allowing you to express yourself freely without fear of judgment. So it can be daunting when being a member of the so-called community starts to feel less fun and more like a job with strict rules and regulations on what you can and can’t do, even going as far as to invalidate your experiences. It’s as if everything is this never-ending contest where you have to jump through hoop after hoop to prove you’re the best. That is precisely what is happening with the weird girl trend on TikTok, which started as a fun way for women to come together and celebrate each other’s hobbies, but turned into a struggle for validation to prove you are a “real” weird girl.
What’s a “Weird Girl” & How Did This All Start?
You may be confused about what a weird girl is, but everyone has encountered them in movies, TV shows, on social media, and even in their own lives. A weird girl is a girl who is unconventional in the way she dresses, acts, or even pursues her hobbies; she is someone who falls outside the social norm. Weird girls are not doing what everyone else around them is doing. As a weird girl myself, I personally love anime, stuffed animals, collecting figurines, and reading books. While to you that may not sound weird, to others, I would be considered outside the norm. This differentiation from others is how I began to feel isolated from my peers, often feeling like I couldn’t relate to them because I didn’t act like them.
This is how it starts for many girls, and this is how it began for TikTok. The ‘weird girl’ trend gained popularity because it showcased various videos of girls sharing their hobbies, which were initially deemed unusual. A TikTok posted by @lizziedabloon on June 9 of this year shows a slideshow with pictures of her, accompanied by the caption “ur lowkey weird,” before transitioning to the next photo, which showcases her interests, including video games, cartoons, YouTube creators, game-themed music, and musicals. Her comments are filled with people relating to her or even agreeing that they were being judged for liking the same things. These are the types of videos being posted under the weird girl trend.
It was a collection of people who were pushed away from society, now coming together to form their own group. This wasn’t just about sharing weird hobbies; some had unique styles, such as their clothing choices or music tastes. It was a place for girls of all backgrounds to come together and enjoy the freedom of being themselves, away from the typical judgment they would receive from peers or family.
The Movement of Acceptance to Regulation
As the trend gained traction, more and more people added their videos, like user @min0dan2, who directed black girls to continue being weird, dressing unconventionally, and being themselves. Then, videos started to appear of girls revealing the things that had happened to them that made them “weird girls,” such as “Top 10 weird girl canon events” and similar content. The comments were still positive, despite some people saying that they hadn’t gone through those experiences.
This continued with more girls revealing their experiences as weird girls during childhood or in the present which led to a divide of sorts. Some of the girls who said they were weird girls were conventionally attractive, which shouldn’t be an issue. However, people in the comments pointed out that to be a weird girl, you can’t be conventionally attractive. This is where the process of “proving” how weird you are began, leading to a shift.
All of a sudden, there were multiple videos of girls listing the things that you had to know about being a weird girl. A TikTok by user @chloefushiguroo goes so far as to say that if you weren’t aware or on that side of the internet, you weren’t a true weird girl but rather a poser trying to get likes and views. This extends to people mentioning a popular TikToker, avascreams, who, at first glance, appears to be a “normal” girl.
However, upon closer examination of her videos, it becomes clear that she fits the earlier definition of a weird girl. This begs the question, when did this trend start to become an attack on people? Given how it began, you wouldn’t think that it would evolve into an attack on people who didn’t fit the stereotypical image of a weird girl, but it is not a surprise.
The realization in recent years is that being unconventional in one’s hobbies has become increasingly cool and popular in the media, with actors like Ayo Edebiri in the movie “Bottoms” and TV shows like “Bob’s Burgers” featuring Tina Belcher. Being a weird or quirky person has begun to carry weight, and with this comes division. When a few bad creators join the trend for views, clicks, and likes, and they are conventionally attractive, people start to deem every person who is conventionally attractive in the weird girl trend as a faker compared to the “true” weird girls.
Users like @lizbotomy believe that weird girls should share their truly unique quirks, such as their decor or saved videos of their favorite topics. She believes that there aren’t many “true” weird girls who are actually showing what is weird about them, and that the trend is being filled with performative weird girls.
This trend, which began as a fun community of people of all types of interests, has become a place filled with rules and regulations of what is or is not a weird girl. This is almost parallel to how weird people are treated in society when they do not fit in with societal norms that ostracize and outcast them. It makes you think about why it would be okay to turn around and do it to people who are just like them. This is essentially doing the same thing that society did to them for just being different.
What Does This Mean for “Weird Girls?”
The trend isn’t the issue here, nor are the people participating; the problem is how we attempt to force everyone to conform to a single idea once we assign a label to them. When you are labeled as a weird girl, it doesn’t mean you have to act or dress in a certain way; all it means is that you enjoy yourself freely without fear and express yourself to your heart’s content. Being a weird girl shouldn’t be about who is the weirdest or who is a “true” weird girl, but rather about what brings us together. As TikTok user @catl0ver1011 says, “It doesn’t matter how plain you are, how basic you are, how alternative you are, how colorful you dress, everyone’s a little weird.”