The effects of social media and subsequent linguistic habits are so interesting. It’s definitely an underdiscussed topic in both feminist spheres and mainstream social media. I absolutely loved reading this article and can’t wait to read more pieces from you 🤍
Thank you! It’s certainly not a new topic in any sense—there’s so much research out there on how language is power and control. However, we often forget to make that connection with the things we say and adopt online because these things feel trendy and relevant…they’re just “what you do.” Excited to write more about these ideas!
I have often had similar thoughts on the commodication and overuse of "girl" terms and phrases like "That's that me espresso." Ellen Yang clearly addressed the issue in a navigatable manner looking deeply at the roots and harvest of these trends. This is a wonderful article and I can't wait to see mote from Yang. :)
Thank you so much for reading, Hannah! I’m interested to see how girlification continues into the future and what other ideas and trends this unearths online. Welcome to my writing 🫶
The tension here is fascinating.... women use “girl” language to escape the exhausting demand to be serious, only for the joke to make female incompetence strangely marketable again. At what point does irony stop mocking a stereotype and start rehearsing it?
I’ve been loving linguistics recently and this was a great first and second read haha. My sister sometimes eats minimally and phrases it as “girl dinner”, i contest but “man kibble”, whilst high in calories, is often low in fibre and lacks a diverse nutritional profile. So in the end i guess we’re just both exhausted 😅
This is a space I never delved into, you know linguistics habits coming from social media effects. But omg, have you made me invested! This was such an intriguing article, I loved it. Definitely got my rethinking my use of 'girl'.
This was one of the most interesting and thought provoking articles that I read in a while. When 67 became the teen word of the year in my country I knew that something was very off. Choosing something that has no meaning and is used in pretty much every scenario is like using the word smurf, it makes you loose connection with language. I totally agree that the use of the girl prefix can have vast consequences that we don't anticipate on. The effect of social media and the use of aesthetics create this constant need for the purchase of new things to really belong to the aesthetic which is then justified by girl math. I really like your point that it is a way of joking around with femininity and role patterns because reality is actually very bleak and it is a form of escapism almost.
I was thinking about this the other day with the rise online of people discussing manifestation and “being delulu”. It is just positive thinking and men have written business books on it for years but for some reason we have created these dumbed down versions to make it acceptable for women to do.
Writing a whole thing just to criticise one line of a pop song and a woman making music. That's ridiculous. I agree with the girl dinne, girl maths and all that bs but wtf are we writing about Sabrina? It's ridiculous.
The effects of social media and subsequent linguistic habits are so interesting. It’s definitely an underdiscussed topic in both feminist spheres and mainstream social media. I absolutely loved reading this article and can’t wait to read more pieces from you 🤍
Thank you! It’s certainly not a new topic in any sense—there’s so much research out there on how language is power and control. However, we often forget to make that connection with the things we say and adopt online because these things feel trendy and relevant…they’re just “what you do.” Excited to write more about these ideas!
I have often had similar thoughts on the commodication and overuse of "girl" terms and phrases like "That's that me espresso." Ellen Yang clearly addressed the issue in a navigatable manner looking deeply at the roots and harvest of these trends. This is a wonderful article and I can't wait to see mote from Yang. :)
Thank you so much for reading, Hannah! I’m interested to see how girlification continues into the future and what other ideas and trends this unearths online. Welcome to my writing 🫶
The tension here is fascinating.... women use “girl” language to escape the exhausting demand to be serious, only for the joke to make female incompetence strangely marketable again. At what point does irony stop mocking a stereotype and start rehearsing it?
What a clever, intriguing article. More please!
You got it! 👩🏻💻
Very interesting article!It help me with a new perspective to think about the language in the digital world.
Thank you!
Eugh this reminds me of people saying ‘weird girl literature’ and it’s basically just women with poor mental health like wtf
I’ve been loving linguistics recently and this was a great first and second read haha. My sister sometimes eats minimally and phrases it as “girl dinner”, i contest but “man kibble”, whilst high in calories, is often low in fibre and lacks a diverse nutritional profile. So in the end i guess we’re just both exhausted 😅
This is a space I never delved into, you know linguistics habits coming from social media effects. But omg, have you made me invested! This was such an intriguing article, I loved it. Definitely got my rethinking my use of 'girl'.
This was one of the most interesting and thought provoking articles that I read in a while. When 67 became the teen word of the year in my country I knew that something was very off. Choosing something that has no meaning and is used in pretty much every scenario is like using the word smurf, it makes you loose connection with language. I totally agree that the use of the girl prefix can have vast consequences that we don't anticipate on. The effect of social media and the use of aesthetics create this constant need for the purchase of new things to really belong to the aesthetic which is then justified by girl math. I really like your point that it is a way of joking around with femininity and role patterns because reality is actually very bleak and it is a form of escapism almost.
I was thinking about this the other day with the rise online of people discussing manifestation and “being delulu”. It is just positive thinking and men have written business books on it for years but for some reason we have created these dumbed down versions to make it acceptable for women to do.
Very interesting! Language really shapes how we perceive something
OMG YES
Can’t believe I only came across this now! Really powerful analysis
Interesting read
Writing a whole thing just to criticise one line of a pop song and a woman making music. That's ridiculous. I agree with the girl dinne, girl maths and all that bs but wtf are we writing about Sabrina? It's ridiculous.
Such an important topic, loved reading your view on it and completely agree!