The celebration of girlhood has become a fun distraction from all of the chaos going on in the world, but we might be girling our way into terrible spending habits.
girlhood is simple…
Girlhood trends have been flooding our social media feeds for over a year now, from girl dinner to the catchy “I’m just a girl” phrase that works wonders to excuse every single one of our very badly thought-out decisions.
The allure of girlhood nostalgia feels impossible to escape, because who wouldn’t want to go back to that short period of time when we got to be just girls without the constant societal pressures placed on womanhood?
Girls still get to be silly, fun, and frivolous. Girls get to have crackers and dip for dinner, spend a little too much on clothes, and pretend that they don’t understand why you can’t just print more money to fix inflation. Girls don’t have to think about the constant bombardment of terrible news, of recessions and unemployment, of wars and climate crises, of misogynistic politics and the trampling of our rights.
…BUt the world Feels LIKE IT MIGHT BE ENDING
Everything seems to be falling apart around us, with the world that we were promised as kids nowhere to be found. So, we turn to TikTok trends to find a momentary respite from the harsh reality of what it means to be an adult, moreover a woman, during what feels like the end of the world.
However, this disillusionment with the future isn’t reserved for girls. Younger generations, mainly Gen Z and Millennials, no longer hold the belief that working hard will lead to a better life, and peaceful retirement seems more like an old wives tale than reality. This bleak outlook has inspired us to live in the now, which has translated into huge spending splurges on fashion, entertainment, and travel with no regard for the long-term consequences that come from living on a financial cliff.
the cost of being a woman
While this phenomenon affects everyone, women face the added pressure of femininity and the costs that come along with it. In a deeply consumerist culture that cycles through micro-trends faster than ever, it hasn’t taken long for girlhood to be reduced to the next marketing ploy to get women to keep spending, spend more, spend it all.
That Girl, Clean Girl, Strawberry Girl, Coquette Girl, and so many more terms used to classify women start out innocent and fun, but they all end up becoming a new way for women to spend their money as they try to keep up with the never-ending expectations of what womanhood is supposed to look like.
Some of you might be thinking, who cares? It’s not like anyone will ever be able to retire, anyway. It’s not like you’ll ever be able to buy a house or get that nice car you’ve always wanted– and who knows if you’ll even be able to afford children. What if you die tomorrow? What were all those savings good for?
SAVE YOUR GIRL MONEY
The thing is, what if the world doesn’t end tomorrow? We would all love to live in a perpetual state of girlhood, where money is no object and all of our frivolous and reckless spending can be forgiven just by uttering the phrase “I’m just a girl”. The real world, unfortunately, does not work that way.
Yes, life is hard and the future is uncertain. As a woman who also longs for girlhood, I believe that we should be able to have fun, go out, travel, buy those shoes we’ve been wanting, and participate in silly social media trends without having to analyze every little detail.
At the same time, we need to be able to find a balance between the burden that has been placed on us to convert our entire existence into market value, and saving some of our girl money for a girl rainy day.