The Internet (and society at large) is experiencing a Girl Renaissance: millennials are making TikToks referring to themselves as “28 year-old teenage girls,” “girl blogging” is prominent, girl dinner is being eaten, girl math is being math-ed, and hot girl walks are being walked. In the words of Mina Le, video essayist and fashion blogger, “girls are girling, hot girls are walking, girls are blogging, dinner is girl, 40 year old men are babygirls — we are in a girl economy!”
But what does the Girl Renaissance mean in relation to our gender and culture?
In examining the Girl Renaissance, the word “girl” is not just a noun, but also an adjective and verb. The word “girl” is not a marking or indication of someone’s gender. Rather, it operates as a simple word for an immensely complex feeling — one that evokes a hyperfeminine and exuberant dream muddied by the pain of growing up and a longing for youth. “Dinner” is a painfully boring term that, for all the dining hall goers, paints a picture of fluorescent lights at DLG and the sparkling water dispenser that catfishes as Starry soda. “Girl dinner,” however, is an homage to the lighthearted side of woman(girl?)hood with its variety, visual interest, and origin in 4th grade snacktime.
Similarly, Marie Solis, New York Times columnist, states in her article “Why ‘Girls’ Rule the Internet,” that the term “girl” is “vocative… [or] used to call someone in,” which explains why “girls” has near-turned into a suffix addressing not just girls, but anyone of any gender: Depop girls can be someone of any gender who loves Depop, scent girls can describe anyone who loves fragrance and perfume, and hanging out with the “girls” can refer to hanging out with a co-ed friend group — the common theme here is that “girls” denotes a group of people of any gender in a short and sweet way, maintaining the lighthearted community fostered by the Girl Renaissance.
“Girl culture” also plays on the performance of womanhood by taking advantage of the stereotype that the “girlies” are vapid and unintelligent through harboring important conversations under the guise of “Girl.” The Girl Renaissance ebbs and flows between “silly” and “smart” — one moment, someone’s fangirling over Cillian Murphy and how he’s so “babygirl.” The next moment, that same person is having a meaningful conversation about politics and culture. The disguise of superficial vapidity acts as a safeguard, blocking out anyone who can’t see through the irony of “girl” or recognize the cleverness of the Girl Renaissance despite its unserious nature.
Aside from the societal implications and meaning of the Girl Renaissance, all of this year’s biggest cultural events have involved women: Barbie(nheimer), Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour and release of 1989 (Taylor’s Verison) and Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), Beyonce’s Renaissance Tour, and the Sandy Liang x Baggu drop. We are truly in a “girl economy” —most of the USA’s highest grossing events are thanks to women, proving the Girl Renaissance is not just generating cultural capital, but also financial capital. Adding together the earnings from Barbie, Oppenheimer, The Eras Tour, 1989 and Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), and the Renaissance Tour, over 3.6 billion dollars of revenue was generated. For perspective, that’s about 2% of the USA’s GDP of 23.32 trillion (Bureau of Economic Analysis) — thanks to only six women-led events. So is “girlie” culture really all that useless, and is it really “just a trend”?
I use the term Girl Renaissance because the societal phenomena we’re seeing is not a reversion back to the naïveté of childhood, but is instead a step towards, a renaissance of, redefining the word “girl” to be a complicated repackaging of modern womanhood. As bleak and as painful being a woman can get, the Girl Renaissance embraces being in touch with the sparkly, pink, positive side of womanhood while grappling with patriarchal and cultural norms.