A strange duality has emerged on social media: pre-teens pump out piles of retinol anti-aging creams in the form of flowers, while 20-somethings tie pink ribbons in their hair and add “girl” to every sentence. Femininity trends on social media today seem to reflect the rejection of girls their own age. Gen Alpha is rebelling against virginity by using products made for a much older audience, while Gen Z yearns for the frivolity and innocence of the lost girl. However, there is a common thread between the generation that wants to grow old and the one that is looking for a return to youth.
Young girls have always played dress-up, rummaging through their mothers’ closets and flaunting their afternoon dreams as adults. But as soon as the dresses and shoes come off, they are instantly children again. Gen Alpha marks a stark contrast to this once universal childhood experience. The trend of adult beauty influencers showing off their skin care routines in videos has trickled down to young girls through social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram. Instead of a girlish admiration for femininity that manifests itself through temporary dress-up sessions, today’s 10-year-olds are mimicking the trends they see online, regularly using products made for older women — like retinol creams and makeup — in their everyday lives.
The innocent infatuation with femininity that past generations satisfied through cross-dressing is no longer so temporary and harmless: today’s young girls are facing an age crisis at the hands of older influencers promoting new anti-aging regimens. These skin care formulas have been deemed medically unnecessary for children by both dermatologists and the brands that make the products. Childhood innocence has become eclipsed and this obsession with looks and overconsumption learned through social media are to blame.
However, the age crisis fueled by TikTok manifests itself in a different way in Gen Z. This generation is gripped by a seemingly universal longing for childhood, shown by all the recent “girly” trends. Our shared embrace of “girlhood”—an uncompromising love of simple, childlike joys—is comforting. For a long time, the patriarchy shamed women for the things they love, but now women are proudly rebranding their shared experiences. Love for walks is regurgitated as “hot girl walks” and bad financial decisions are attributed to “girl math.” Perhaps this affinity can be considered empowering.
But what even caused this social media-induced age crisis? One culprit may be Covid-19. With months or even years of online learning, even the youngest children have been forced to develop a connection to computers and the Internet in their daily lives. Combined with the technological dependence of the so-called “iPad generation,” Gen Alpha’s record high levels of social media use may make them particularly susceptible to the influence of online trends.
At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, Generation Z was in the crucial developmental stages of middle school, high school and early college, disrupting crucial periods of transformation for this generation. As a freshman in high school at the time, going back to normal by my freshman year felt jarring, like I was prematurely thrust into adulthood. Perhaps this longing for a girl stems from a nostalgic desire for the security and simplicity of youth so suddenly cut short.
The association of women with consumerism is nothing new to a patriarchal society: women are constantly told that being a woman means buying the Bath and Body Works catalog for Millenials, the Stanley Cup for Gen Z, and now skin care against aging for Gen. Alpha. As disturbing as it is to see Gen Alpha flocking to Sephora, their actions are a product of the intersection of capitalist and patriarchal pressures on the culture of an entire generation.
The girls trend is no different. Despite the community flavor it can impart, attributing girlhood to every action trivializes Gen Z, fueling the patriarchal infantilization of women and the rejection of female autonomy. While adding the word “girl” to each action adds a sense of relatability and recognition, the trend does little to disrupt the systematic disenfranchisement of women.
The bigger problem with TikTok’s feminism trends is their perpetuation of the female condition in patriarchy. These trends perpetuate the oppression of women by failing to inspire empowering views of femininity. The reality is that social media femininity will never really be about women: social media indulgence is simply consumption in the visibility economy.
