The 'I'm Just A Girl' Trend is Glorifying Overconsumption & Irresponsibility

#imjustagirl #overconsumption #girlmath
“I’m just a girl” is the latest viral trend sweeping across TikTok. In the same vain of “girl dinner,” “girl math,” and “girl hobby,” “I’m just a girl” normalizes the infantilization of women and superficial indulgence through overconsumption of beauty products, clothing, skincare items and other unnecessary products. In this video, I discuss how TikTok users are using the phrase “I’m just a girl” to justify their financial recklessness, poor driving skills, shopping addictions, and other shortcomings. Using the background music “Just a Girl” by No Doubt, this new crop of “girl-ification” trends are breeding a new generation of women who take pride in being shallow and uneducated.

Sources:
The Society of the Spectacle by Guy Deboard

Girl Math is fun but don’t let it fool you

Girl Math was a fun social media joke, then it got complicated

The Cult of Domesticity

The Dumb Blonde: Where Did The Stereotype Even Come From?

Movies referenced:
Notting Hill
Mean Girls
The House Bunny
Clueless

TV Shows Mentioned
Married With Children
The Simple Life
I Love Lucy
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*Disclaimer: Information presented in this video is my opinion and mine alone unless attributed to a journalistic source.

Keywords for the algo:
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[ashleyaviola]

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[MaejorArray]

it almost seems like weaponized incompetence but in pink.

[littlestarwalker]

Oops I just validated misogynists... ✨but I'm just a girl✨

[whatkaeread]

What happened to the Elle Woods notion that women can be BOTH? We can enjoy pretty things and skincare and blah blah and still be intelligent. Now we're just making a mockery of ourselves. It's not cute.

[comradecutie]

TikTok has created a generation of childish women who are obsessed with being “girls.” Girl dinner, girl math and now just a girl…It’s nauseating 🤢

[storytimewithkellybeth]

This is one of the most childish trends I've ever heard of.

[Shanaemiami]

It’s interesting to see who gets to be “just a girl.” Black women are adultified even when we are “just girls” while *others* can be “just girls” well into adulthood.

[Jabberwocky]

I’m so tired of women fighting for anti intellectualism to be connected to womanhood and if you fight that notion you’re called a “pick me” or “not like other girls.” I have to fight daily as a short young woman to be taken seriously at my job, which is majority women mind you. I’m doing a fucking masters degree and struggle to feel smart and capable. I am not stupid, and being a woman is not an excuse to be incompetent.

[cheslxy]

When you don’t have much talent online, you do overconsumption.

[allisarcadia]

I honestly did not realize people seriously used this as like. Part of their personality and justification for their behavior? I'd only ever seen it used as a satirical "weapon" against men thinking women can't do anything that requires logic or responsibility.

[lordfreerealestate]

The yassification of terrible life choices.
I really dislike consumerism and capitalism repackaged as empowerment/self care/feminism. It's sadly common these days. And shopping addictions are actually pretty horrible and shouldn’t be trivialized.

[Totally_Glitched]

Really feel you on the jokes becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy thing.

Negative self-talk, even when done in a comedic way, causes your brain to reinforce those negative beliefs. It's extremely difficult, but reworking your language to be kinder to yourself really goes a long way. It's something I've been trying to do for myself more and more, and I've noticed a real difference.

[chae]

“i’m just a girl 🥺” no. you’re incompetent.

[MoriMementa]

"I'm just a girl, " Yeah? Well I'm just appalled women are trying to erode all the progress feminism's made with stupid TikTok trends. You're not just a girl. You're a woman, an adult. You can do so much more than you think and you don't need to hide behind girly ignorance to make up for your shortcomings. Like Garnet said, "I have weaknesses but I choose not to let them consume me."

[zDarkWind]

I wonder how much of this is the result of kickback from the “I’m not like other girls” thing from years ago.

[afirewasinmyhead]

I think it was in your girl dinner video where you mentioned that the whole girlification of it all is driven by this desire we have to go back to the whimsy and joy that is associated with girlhood and that has stuck with me ever since. Women can and should have fun/poke fun at themselves but we can do that without reinforcing misogyny. Seeing these clips of women being like "hehe I can't be financially responsible, I'm just a girl" "hehe I can't drive, I'm just a girl" "hehe I can't take out the trash, I'm just a girl" is so infuriating.

[Emily-the-faerie]

You just burned down an innocent persons house

But I'm just a girl 😢

[Arbetsterapeuten]

I don´t know if Im just too old but I can´t take this trend seriously, but then I think about all the young people on tiktok that don´t know any better and that makes me sad.

[MuseSunflower]

I can see how it’s playfully poking fun at yourself for your mishaps. But I think it’s gone really far (like always with trends in the internet) where people using it to avoid accountability and common sense.

[carolperdue]

I am 64. I was shopping for T-shirts in Target and I was shocked at how much stuff was covered with Hello Kitty, Strawberry Shortcake, My Little Pony, etc. In the adult women's section. I think that this whole infantilization of women, the trad wife "movement" and Project 2025 are all walking in tandem. Women need to wake up or they may find themselves in the same position as our grandmothers and great grandmothers in terms of our rights.