The image we have of the teenage girl is often of a bubbly, gullible, superficial girl, who is mostly concerned with herself. A blue-eyed face with pink lip gloss directed down at a screen. Often observed in clothes shops at the centre, at the back of the bus with the rest of the girl gang talking about boys and make-up, or dancing in a new outfit on TikTok. There was a period when young women worked to disprove this. Not because there is anything wrong with being girly, but because girls have more to offer than looking pretty, and achieve more than spending money. We are about to give up this fight. Now this view of the teenage girl is being embraced in all its banal glory. On social media, young adult women have even started calling themselves “teenage girls in their 20s”. It’s actually a rather lovely existence, to be able to sit and look cute while the men take care of the big questions. The teenage girls in their 20s put on a furt mine and whine that they have to have full-time jobs, submit home exams or reflect on the worldview – they are, after all, “just girls”. They would prefer not to contribute anything in complicated discussions and debates. They would rather spend thousands of kroner on clothes and make-up, without having to think about how this affects anyone but themselves. The latest big thing on social media is “girl mats”. The hashtag #girlmath generates thousands of hits on Instagram and has several million plays on TikTok. Photo: Instagram #girlmath Let’s say you bought a top for NOK 300 which you exchange for a pair of trousers for NOK 250. Then, according to the girls, you have earned NOK 50, so you can justify buying a nail polish at the same time. If you pay with cash, an item is free, because the number in your bank account does not change. Girl mat. On TikTok, world conflicts are explained in “girl language”. The only way girls can understand the Israel-Palestine conflict is if it is compared to a petty argument between two girls, Patty and Izzy, who both want to celebrate their birthdays at the same club but can’t agree on how to will divide the party room. “Buckle up, girliepops, we’re talking about Israel and Palestine.” The war in Gaza explained on TikTok. Photo: Skjermbilde/Tiktok This trend is called “girlsplaining”, inspired by the concept of “mansplaining”, both of which imply that women are simply unable to understand complicated topics, unless it is explained to them as if they were little girls. The difference is apparently that girlsplaining is good, because it is done by a cute girl in a pink outfit. From now on, we go on “hot girl walks”, which are walks where we are only allowed to think positive thoughts, preferably about how “hot” we ourselves are. We are girly girls who support all women’s choices, without critical questions about anything. Well-grown influencers who are met with criticism respond that it is unfair because they are in fact “just girls”. So-called bimbo feminists front that it’s time to let women be pretty and stupid again. The ideal has become to be a living blonde joke. When women come across as smart and reflective, they often receive sour comments that they are trying too hard. Being a grown woman with adult responsibilities is out. From now on they will only do girly things. Like going to a cafe and talking about boys. Get manicures. Put on make up. Slim down. Shop, often cheap microplastic clothes sewn by a 14-year-old girl in Bangladesh who earns two kroner an hour (her teenage years are not as important). “Girl” is a sweet synonym for frivolous, frivolous, and perhaps more than anything else: overconsumption. To call yourself a girl is to ask the world to please not expect anything more from us than to be cute, – and good at opening your wallet. Women shop, and men manage the billion dollar companies we shop from. It’s a kind of teasing, self-conscious wink at the outside world. Right, you guys win, the women’s match was a bit tiring. Women have responsibilities and annoyingly long to-do lists. Girls, as you know, just wanna have fun. Life as a perpetual teenage girl promises something that feminists cannot: a frictionless life without challenges. The thing is, of course, if no one challenges you, it’s because they don’t respect you enough to do so. Perhaps this is exactly what the trend is aiming for. In the girls’ defence, it was actually the boys who started. How many times has “boys being boys” been used as an acceptable excuse for irresponsible and immature behavior? For men of all ages? When we say “boys are boys”, we are really saying that women cannot expect to be respected by men, because they are “just boys”. Boys will be boys. In any case, it is women who draw the shortest straw. What worries me is that by describing ourselves as “just girls”, we are asking to be treated like children. It’s as degrading as it gets. Even worse, it’s incredibly condescending to the real teenage girls. It becomes harder and harder for these girls to prove that they can be strong, smart and hardworking, because the ideal is to be fragile. Young women are naive if they think that we can put a brake on the women’s struggle without consequences. Women have not marched on trains, gone on strike and taken bullets to the head for us to use our freedom to be pretty and stupid. We have to dare to take ourselves seriously, and we have to expect others to take us seriously in the same vein. We can’t hide in the girls’ room forever. It’s time to grow up.
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The girls who don’t want to grow up – Speech
