'I'm Not Like Other Girls' in Young Adult books

today we have a discussion video about the 'i'm not like other girls' trope and how it appears in early young adult fiction books! think twilight, shadowhunters, shadow and bone, red queen etc. Hope you enjoyed this kind of video, i'm a commentary channel now (jk lol...unless?). also i now have even more respect for people who fully edit whole video essays.

Media mentioned in this video:
• Three other videos about the 'not like other girls' trope in general:

Timestamps:
00:00 intro
2:51 PART 1: what is the 'not like other girls' trope
4:10 why do girls call themselves 'not like other girls'?
6:07 PART 2: how NLOG appears in YA books
6:39 paranormal romance
7:31 the strong female character
11:48 but why?????
13:05 PART 3: the femininity contradiction
16:31 PART 4: the femininity contradiction in YA books
17:19 the rival mean girl
18:45 male approval
21:46 beauty
24:18 conclusion
24:50 PART 5: modern YA fiction
25:47 PART 6: what did we learn from this?
26:28 outro + bloopers

🌻 w a n n a s e e m o r e?

🌸 m y e t s y s h o p
I sell bookmarks, bookplates and art prints!

🌼 s o c i a l m e d i a
• twitter: @thebookleo
• instagram: @thebookleo

🌺 a b o u t m e
Hi! My name is Leonie and I am a 23 year old girl who loves talking about books! From YA to non-fiction to classics, I read it all (although fantasy will always be my fave). I live in the Netherlands and go to university, but make booktube videos in my spare time :)

🌹 m u s i c
• Youtube Audio Library

[gideongrace]

"You're expected to be beautiful, you're not supposed to try." Oh, man. THAT. Is the truth.

[-brookebugz-]

Ok so we’re talking about strong feminine female characters, but how come no ones talking about Elle Woods??!? (Legally Blonde) she is EXTREMELY feminine, and considered a dumb blonde, but puts her mind to getting in to Harvard law, AND SHE DOES. And she gets over her ex, and actually becomes friends with her ex’s ex instead of be coming her enemy just because she is also his ex.

[juliettegibson]

I think one of the saddest things about this trope is that the author never lets the less feminine character be friends with a more feminine character. They’re always enemies. This really bothers and bothered me because I’m less feminine and I still get along so well with more feminine girls my age. The more feminine one is always snappy, high maintenance, and easily jealous. The less feminine one is distanced, doesn’t scare about others opinions, and just “accidentally ends up the center of attention.” All the feminine girls I’ve known are so kind, welcoming, and compassionate. They’re honestly so amazing and wonderful and I’m glad to call them my friends. Plus they make the less feminine character so devoid of emotion which ticks me off because emotion isn’t bad. Emotions are what make us connected with one another. The characters that are more feminine are usually my favs in movies and books because they’re so aware of how they feel and aren’t afraid of showing how they feel.

[urviurviurviurvi]

we are literally forgetting about the STRONGESt and most feminine female character out there: barbie

[turtlerabbitkim]

I can't remember Katniss being mean to other "traditional feminine" girls, she was all the time brooding and thinking about "Why am I caught up in this mess?" Hahaha. She was too busy thinking about survival, there wasn't really a moment for her to be feminine since she needed to survive.

[raindancer]

The first time I read The Vampire Diaries I was shocked to see that the main character was actually the most popular girl in school, had very strong female friendships, and had a good relationship with her ex. I was shooketh.

[saragolightly]

I realized over quarantine how many Disney shows include the shallow, hyper feminine character you described...and treat her exactly as you described. A rival, a punch line, etc.

[iseydelmar]

Girls: "Can I put on makeup"
Society: "No! You have to be natural! Makeup is false advertisement!"
Girls: "Can I have surgery to my nose/lips/breast/tummy/etc"
Society: "No way! Surgery is only for fake and shallow airheads! Why can't you just be natural"
Girls: *totally natural*
Society: "NO NOT LIKE THAT"

[VocaloidThalia]

An AWESOMe example of great female characters are Katara and Toph, really. Katara was very much a girl, and Toph was quite tomboyish. I loved the scene where Katara gets Toph to do a makeover, and she actually ends up liking it. I loved their friendship!
Seriously, almost all ATLA characters were so well written, both boys and girls. Azula was a strong character- even if she's in no way a role model.

[hanlitwin]

I think with Katniss it’s a whole other story. She rejects vanity, which might be mistaken for a feminine thing. I guess she’s „not like other girls” but not to appeal to men, she just doesn’t have time to do traditionally feminine things and/or doesn’t really care about them, which is not a bad thing.

[AwkwardBookworm]

“If you read books...you’ll become a brunette” 😂😂

[catawithrush]

Rose Hathaway from Vampire Academy was one of the first protagonist that enjoyed girly things while also being a strong female character 💕

[aivryzamora]

As a teenage girl (17) who does her best to just mind her own business and let everybody do what her makes them happy, it’s STILL very difficult to not feel that judgment towards things that are considered “basic” or even on the other side “quirky”. I get insecure talking about books because I don’t wanna seem like I’m trying too hard but I also get insecure liking popular music cause it’s “basic”. I love a good strong female character and to this day I relate to Katniss Everdeen specifically on an EXTREME level but yet I find it so difficult to find my own unique identity cause it’s so hard to not be judged by various specific stereotypes :/

[KB-tgpf]

I just watched Twilight recently and was struck by how rude she was to the other girls for literally no reason. They were being so nice and trying to invite her to do things with them, and she straight up acted like they were beneath her. 😅

[turtlerabbitkim]

The problem with "I'm not like other girls" stereotype is that it ignores the fact that NONE OF THE GIRLS ARE LIKE OTHER GIRLS. We are all different from each other, we are all full of contradictions!
For example, I dress girly, but I like traditional male careers and I don't like to decor🤡 Not everything is feminine or "masculine" about me. Humas are contradictive.
I might seem extroverted, but I enjoy my alone time. I look like I have tons of friends, but my inner circle is actually small. I listen to heavy metal sometimes...other times I listen to kpop like BLACKPINK, all Taylor Swift album and I love classical music...like wtf? I'm pretty sure everyone has a side that no one sees and that is quite peculiar
See? Girls are complex and I'd like to see a book portraying a character like this

[gisela_oliveira]

Literally the epitome of contradiction: I often see boys complaing about girl and saying things like "I want a girlfriend that don't care for eating in cheap places" and that is because they refuse to let girls pay, "i want a girlfriend that don't care for makeup or her body" but they expect girls being naturally perfect, pretty and wit no fat, "i want a girlfriend that is like a boy" but she needs to be very feminine...

[gabiolszowy]

Okay but the makeover in the hunger games is completely different, it is there to show how people of capitol don't see tributes as people, to show the contrast between the glamour of the whole show that almost made you forget that those people couldnt wait to see the children they cheered on die

[perfectillusionist]

I love it how inej smashes this concept in crooked kingdom

[georgia]

I actually re-read The Hunger Games for a university project, and Katniss was less "pick me" than I originally thought. I was expecting her to completely reject her feminine qualities, but when reading it, I didn't quite see that. The quote you included was quite "i'm not like other girls", but I believe there were only a few of those quotes. Besides, if you think about it, she's criticising classism - not wanting to talk about consumerist goods, such as clothes, probably stems from her austere upbringing.

[sheilaelaine]

Still today, people stare at me when I am somewhere dressed up in high heels etc. while reading in my book. They think it is unusual that this „Blondie“ is intelligent and not ONLY interested in fashion and makeup. We need to change that ladies.