Teenage girls can’t win. They’re made fun of for anything they like, whether it’s
twilight, Justin Bieber, or Olivia Rodrigo. For decades, young women have been belittled
for their interests, no matter how traditionally feminine or masculine they are. Anything that
is liked by teenage girls, whether it’s a certain boyband like one direction, a singer
like Taylor Swift, or a website like tumblr, is immediately belittled and men want nothing
to do with it. Even names. Names like Ashley, Courtney, and Shannon were traditionally male
given names, but when these names started being used for females as well, they quickly
became quote on quote “girl names”. Professions that were traditionally male like teaching
and nursing became jobs associated with females once more and more young women trained for
and eventually entered the profession. If teenage girls like things that are popular,
they’re “basic”, if they like things that aren’t as popular, they’re trying
too hard to be edgy or alt. If girls love makeup, they’re fake and shallow, if they
hate it, they’re trying to be “not like other girls” or they’re lying. Society
makes fun of girls for being VSCO girls, for being emo, for being preppy, for wearing clothing
that is too revealing but also for clothing that isn’t revealing enough. Girls are being
made fun of for drinking water (hydroflask), or for how they speak. Teenage girls simply
can’t win. Making fun of girls for their interests is
especially present on social media. If you do a quick scroll on tiktok, you can see every
single type of girl being made fun of for every single possible interest a human being
can have, whether that’s astrology, a book series, or dancing. So clearly the problem
isn’t with these specific hobbies, but how society perceives young women. The aforementioned
VSCO girls were so bullied and made fun of for their style on the Internet, that no one
really dresses this way anymore. Apparently, wearing scrunchies and oversize t-shirts was
so bothersome to a large part of the general public. But when girls wear tight or cropped
shirts, their clothes are too revealing and this elicits criticism and cyberbullying too.
This isn’t a new thing. Society treats young girls as ever-malleable and impressionable,
and as if they are too young or too stupid to have genuine interests and know what they
are. In the 50s and 60s, teenage girls were mocked for loving Elvis Pressley and the Beatles.
In the 90s and early 2000s, it was boybands like NSYNC and pop artists like Britney Spears.
These girls have always been belittled as groupies who succumbed to hive mentality and
only like things because they are popular, not because they have the capability to genuinely
enjoy it. This has led to many young girls internalizing this misogyny and developing
interests outside of popular culture and claiming they’re “not like other girls”, as if
having different interests makes them better or smarter. When I was in school there were
two different groups of girls: Girls who were fans of One Direction, and Girls who made
fun of girls for being fans of One Direction. There’s nothing wrong with being a teenage
girl who has interests different from the mainstream, as long as those are genuine interests
and aren’t developed on purpose for the sake of being different, or for not wanting
to be made fun of for being basic. Luckily, young women are beginning to break away from
this desire to not want to be like other girls, as they realize pitting women against each
other for something as stupid as their interests really isn’t worth it, and it’s misogynistic.
Girls’ interests should be able to exist outside of however they’re perceived by
men, other young women, and others in general.
JoJo: Jojo Siwa has been one of the biggest victims
in recent pop culture of shaming teenage girls for literally existing. After making her breakout
from Dance Moms, Jojo’s star power took off exponentially. JoJo became an entertainer,
mostly marketed toward children, and attached her name to mega-successful music tours, sponsorships,
merchandise and games. Siwa is reportedly worth around $20 million dollars. Despite
her success, JoJo wasn’t able to escape the judgement all teenage girls face. Siwa
was criticized relentlessly for her sequined outfits, bright colors, and bows, for “dressing
like a child”, despite being a positive role model for children by teaching them lessons
in confidence and self-acceptance. Jojo just turned 18 in 2021, so she herself was a child
the entire time. A lot of this hatred came from adults much older than Jojo, despite
not having children or younger siblings, or any reason to interact with or be aware of
what she’s doing. Even if they did, it really isn’t anyone’s business to comment on
how a teenage girl dresses or promotes herself. A lot of the hatred unfortunately also came
from teenage girls JoJo’s own age. Online, there are multiple questions, forums,
and posts asking why JoJo decides to dress like a “5 year old” even though she’s
old enough to drive. Hundreds and thousands of people are so personally bothered by how
Siwa dresses and brands herself. Many teens who dislike her say it’s because she’s
“unrelatable”. It’s not JoJo’s job to be relatable to other teenagers, so it’s
not fair to make fun of her because she isn’t behaving the way the majority of the people
her age are. She doesn’t have to. A lot of people don’t recognize that JoJo
Siwa is a brand. Yes, she’s a real person, but the JoJo Siwa persona that has become
a phenomenon has been crafted to cater to a specific audience. JoJo herself has said
that some parts of her public persona are played up, and others are her authentic self.
Regardless, she has made it clear that she’s extremely satisfied with her life, both professional
and personal. In the past year, Siwa teased a side of herself
more in line with a “normal” teenager, and also came out as part of the lgbtq community.
This more personal insight to her romantic life, as well as her becoming a legal adult,
has helped JoJo to somewhat edge away from the persona that many considered childish,
and have separated JoJo Siwa the character from JoJo Siwas the person.
Being able to have a more mature public persona has stopped a lot of the criticism JoJo faced
previously, and now many people on the Internet who made fun of her before are now casual
fans of her, or at least don’t hate her. She’s become a prominent lgbtw icon, especially
amongst the younger community. While this representation is both necessary and inspirational,
it puts JoJo in yet another box. At first, JoJo was too loud, colorful, and childish.
Now, JoJo is the focus of many conversations about LGBTQ youth and thirst traps (that sounds
so weird to say) circulate on apps like tiktok. Even during her run on Dancing with the stars,
more emphasis was put on Jojo’s possible chemistry with her female partner than was
put on her dancing skills. JoJo essentially traded one label for another through no fault
of her own. She’s the victim of a society that likes to label teenage girls and put
them in boxes. Since society can’t view young women as multidimensional, their leading
traits and interests are incorrectly assumed to be every part of their identity.
JoJo’s biggest criticism was that she was childish. When she changed it, a lot of the
hate she received for her appearance stopped. But, when other teenagers like bad bhabie
or alabama barker act in a way that’s perceived as their age or older, they’re still attacked.
Danielle Bregoli, aka, Bhad Bhabie has been heavily criticized for years for dressing
in a way that many believe is inappropriate from her clothing choice, to her tattoos,
to speculations that she may have had plastic surgery. It's no one’s business how a minor,
or even an 18 or 19 year old presents themselves, or what they’ve done to their body. Alabama
Barker has faced a lot of this same hatred. Between her father’s high-profile relationship
with kourtney kardashian and her growing tiktok account, alabama has received a lot of hateful
comments on the internet due to her appearance. There are women old enough to be her mother
and grandmother telling her to cover up, or that she looks decades older than she is,
or making nasty assumptions about a 16 year old that can’t be determined by the way
someone dresses. Its’ not acceptable to cyberbully a minor just because you personally
dont agree with how they dress, when you aren't their parents and arent at all responsible
for their safety or buying their clothes. If JoJo Siwa wears bright colors and covers
up, she’s called childish. If bhad bhabie and alabama show more skin and present a more
adult look, they’re called names and are “Trying to grow up too fast.
One could argue a lot of the hatred Bhad Bhabie or Alabama receive is because they’re version
of looking older is also sexualized, or because they’re problematic, but this same hatred
was extended to other teenagers like Lorde, who was only 16 when she emerged in the public
eye. When she was a teenager, her outfits were never particularly revealing or inappropriate
for her age, so she was instead picked on for dressing like an old lady, and the Internet
made jokes about her secretly being in her 40s. The bottom line is there is no way that
a teenage girl can dress or present herself that she won’t receive hatred for.
Teenage girls are made fun of for having traditionally feminine interests like shopping and makeup,
but if girls have traditionally masculine interests, they’re invalidated just the
same. Girls in the online gaming community are either seen as overly feminine and incompetent,
and only interested in games for male attention. Girls who are talented at gaming are then
masculinized and seen as a man in the community, as if being feminine and being good at something
in a male-dominated sphere can’t coexist. Though the amount of professional girl-gamers
has grown professionally by 32% in the last year, not much has changed about the perception
of girl-gamers. They’re often on the receiving end of results claiming they’re incapable
of gaming or doing it for male attention. There’s a stronger concern that females
who play shooter games will be overly exposed to violence and either become traumatized
by it or more likely to commit acts of violence. While there’s no consensus on just how much
video games influence violent behavior in teens, young men are far more likely to commit
mass acts of violence. Girls in the gaming community often have to hide their identities
with unisex screennames, or not showing their appearances at all.
Analysis/ Other Examples: Creating a society where young girls can’t
be their authentic selves without getting made fun of leads to grown women constantly
invalidating their own feelings and interests, and having a hard time developing their identities.
Many young women who are made fun of for their hobbies in childhood never truly develop them
in adulthood, or are able to be open and proud of their interests.
Things that are liked and obsessed over by men don’t get this same sort of invalidation.
When a teenage girl cries over say, Justin Beiber or BTS, she’s overly emotional and
obsessed. When men worship sports teams, no matter how cult-like their obsession may be,
or whatever tantrums they throw they’re simply called fans. When men pay hundreds
and thousands for tickets for sporting events this is normal, but when young women spend
the same amount of money for concert tickets they’re crazy groupies who are wasting their
money on artists who don’t know they exist. Just like a lot of young girls would marry
their favorite musician, I’m sure a lot of men are border-line in love with their
favorite sports team, they just won’t admit it.
Since teenage girls are criticized for weighing too much, weighing too little, being too slim,
and being too curvy, body image problems and EDs are increasingly common amongst teenage
girls. Not only do they compare themselves to the impossible and hypocritical body standards
of other men, they also compare themselves to other young women. Even if teenage girls
aren’t directly criticized for their looks, witnessing other young women being criticized
can lead them to internalize these insecurities they likely wouldn’t have had otherwise.
I’m sure it’s obvious that this hatred toward teenage girls is a byproduct of misogyny.
Anything associated with women, especially young women is considered not suitable for
men, and the quickest way to establish this is to invalidate it. In addition, the quickest
way to keep women in a position that’s inferior to men is to belittle their interests, and
therefore prevent women from growing in those interest or having confidence in themselves.
The more insecure girls society can force to grow up to be insecure women, the lesser
the chance these women will compete with men and threaten them both socially and professionally.
My advice to young girls is to just, do whatever you want, because you’re going to be hated
for it anyway, so you might as well be hated for enjoying things you like than pretending
to enjoy things you don’t.
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