girls girls girls

the bdm review of reviews

Maybe ten years ago, there were two iron clad rules online for nerdy women. One was that you shouldn’t be a mean girl; the other was that you should never, ever say that you aren’t like other girls (otherwise known as being the “cool girl”). But, of course, that second one wasn’t really about what people said about themselves—it was about what other people (well, women) said about them. In this sense, it could be a free pass to be a mean girl but in the name of being on the girl defense squad.

In the general discourse, representations of “girls” are often talked about in weird, didactic ways. “The girl” is a walking thinkpiece. What are the girls learning from this? What does this say about what the girls want to be? Why are women calling themselves girls? Girls! I’m so worried about girls! What will the girls do? What they thinking? What do they want?