On social media, there has been a trend of women referring to themselves as “just girls.” While there is no inherent harm in this phrase, many don’t understand how diminishing it can sound. Because girls are anything but “just.”
The term “just a girl” started when No Doubt released their popular song “Just a Girl” in 1995. However, it has recently caught traction again with the rise of social media.
Women post themselves making mistakes, spending money or just being playful with this term. Although it is not inherently harmful or derogatory, it gives women a negative connotation without them realizing it.
It takes away the roles of women and diminishes them to “just girls.” Women use this phrase to show moments of minor chaos within their everyday lives, whether it be running late or spending money.
While it can be a fun trend that women want to participate in for a cute post, it can actually lead to cases of weaponized incompetence, downplaying women in society. There have been many posts showing women avoiding responsibilities, not understanding or needing help with vehicular problems, or depending on a man to fix an inconvenience.
While these scenarios are not necessarily detrimental to post about, they all have an underlying theme of women not being good enough. As “just girls,” we belittle ourselves into becoming weak, dumb and dependable– everything that women have worked their way up from since the dawn of time.
One of the most ironic aspects of this trend is that the original song states: “I’m just a girl in the world, that’s all that you’ll let me be.” However, women have been misinterpreting it to show their funny mistakes, putting themselves in a category that was never meant to exist.
While some may say that this take is too serious and that being “just a girl” is a trend, I would have to disagree. Women have scarcely been taken seriously in the history of the world. We have constantly had to catch up to men in every setting, so why would we take it for granted and belittle ourselves as a joke?
Even now, with the constant news about sexual assault cases or gender discrimination in the workplace, why would we add fuel to the fire and position ourselves in a spot where we want to make our gender a joke?
Women are not “just” anything. Women are so much more than any one word could define, for that matter. It is so disheartening to see women belittle themselves online, especially when the audience on social media is primarily young girls.
As women, we need to stop making ourselves smaller to fit into the world. We are as smart and capable as any man, and none of them have ever referred to themselves as “just boys.” Let’s stop making ourselves little.
I hope that this article gave you something to think about and helped you realize that even though many trends are seemingly not harmful, they may have underlying trends of misogyny that we don’t even realize. It is always important to be aware, especially as a woman.