The worst part of this trope is when girly girls are shown as vapid and shallow, because it it then teaches young girls that being girly and feminine is bad and how there’s something shameful with being female...

I can’t believe I used to pretend that I didn’t like shopping or the color pink because of societies hatred of women who do those things.

This is why "Legally Blonde" is so relevant to this day.

I love that Elle Woods never abandons her femininity even while going for what was considered a masculine job. She's surrounded by more masculine women who occasionally share their hatred for her because of her girliness and by men, especially he professor who sees her as nothing but as an object he can use to win a case easily. Elle fights through it all and is a self run successful girly girl.

as a wise twitter user once wrote: Growing up is getting over your irrational hatred of color pink

"Bella is reorganizing her life around a guy who wants to kill her, but at least she doesn't care about prom." OMG I'm crying, this is the best thing I heard all week

It's funny to me that Bella in Twilight is praised for being "different" and "not like other girls", but any girl who liked Twilight during its peak was mocked for being "like other girls" and "basic".

Weird. I’ve never heard “the boyey boy.” Just “boys will be boys”

I think the idea of feminine women liking diamonds and jewelry is really interesting, considering that historically, women owned jewelry because they legally couldn't open bank accounts independently. Jewelry and diamonds were once the only way women could have guaranteed access to their own wealth.

What I don't like when writers have girly characters stop being feminine as part of their character development. It's as if they are saying being girly is a bad thing and being into more masculine things or wearing boyish clothes makes you better. I know films use clothes as a way to show characters personalities, but why is always girly characters that need to change themselves What I liked about legally blonde is that they didn't change the way Elle dressed to show that she has become smarter

One of my favorite quotes from Avatar the last airbender: “I treated you like a girl when I should have treated you like a warrior” “I am a warrior, but I’m a girl too” This show has a great portrayal of it’s female characters! While some of them are more of a tomboy (like Toph, or Mai), some are more girly (like Ty Lee, Suki, or Katara) but all of them are absolute badasses. Even characters and side characters that are not fighters and could be easily seen as a girly girl cliche are never treated like a joke!

Best show to deal with sexism is Avatar: The Last Airbender. Just look at the Kyoshi warriors or Ty Lee. Ty Lee is sweet, pretty, cared about her looks, always wore pink, but she’s not shallow, she’s one of the best fighters. My favorite line is when sokka tells suki he treated her like a girl when he should’ve treated her like a warrior and she didn’t take it as a compliment, she told him she was both. That’s an insult and she made it clear she was proud of her gender

Black women were especially shamed in our communities for being feminine and girly when I was growing up. "You think you cute huh?" was the common phrase for those of us who wanted to doll ourselves up and liked certain fashion styles deemed "white".

i wanna wear pink and tell you what i feel about politics -taylor swift

I was always praised in school for being smart. I knew how smart I was as a kid. But growing up, I was more interested in fashion and makeup and wearing earrings, but my parents told me to stop thinking about that because my only job was being a student and being well behaved. And I was. When I moved out in my twenties, I was able to do all those things I wanted, and it made me happy. But the intelligence never went away. See? You can be two things at the same time. I’m both in the smart and girly girl trope.

Real feminism is a woman being what makes her happy, living her best life. Anyone throwing shade because its pink, or butch, or sleeps around, or stay-at-home, or childless....needs to get their OWN life, and quit telling any woman how she is "supposed" to be living hers.

Dang, as I get older, I realize that I used to pretend not to like girly things because I thought it meant I couldn't like other things like comic books. We need to teach girls that they can be more than just one thing.

I loathe when a Girly Girl is portrayed as a shallow, vapid airhead with nothing on her mind except for shopping and makeovers. Thankfully, this Trope is becoming more nuanced, with Elle Woods being a prime deconstruction of how a traditionally feminine character can be more than she initially appears. 💞 🛍️💄

As Taylor Swift said: “I wanna wear pink, and tell you how I feel about politics. I don’t think those things have to cancel each other out.”

The fact that Legally Blond and Sharpay from HSM were not mentioned just hurts

I hate how this trope shaped the notion that girls who enjoy shopping can’t be academic, I want to be a doctor however constantly see female medics being judged on their academic ability based on how stereotypically feminine they behave, honestly to quote the queen herself “I’m like totally into shopping” (also love how Blair warldorf defied this trope)

This reminds me of the hate that "basic" girls get when they enjoy things such as Starbucks, Ugg boots, etc... like why can't they just live their lives and like what they like?

In the movie mean girls, Regina George is a girly girl BUT in the end of the film she has transformed into a sporty girl and it is implied that she's now happier than ever. Was she a terrible person just as a girly girl? Cindy was rejected when she transformed into a girly girl, and her love interest showed care for her geek side. Meanwhile the tomboy/goth girl manages to find a guy at the end of the film, just magically.

it's so weird that for a period of time in the media, being a "badass girl" literally meant either being a straight up bitch with no emotions or acting like a man, and any girl who doesn't automatically want to act like a man is inferior. I remember being a kid and being so scared to admit I liked girly things because other GIRLS or WOMEN (like my mum etc) would make fun of girls who did, I kept saying my favourite colour was blue even though it was pink, hopefully the future generation of girls wouldn't need to live through that.

As a girly girl, especially a non wealthy black girly girl. I appreciate this video.

“I wanna love glitter, and also stand up for the double standards that exist in our society. I wanna wear pink, and tell you how I feel about politics. I don’t think those things have to cancel each other out.” - Taylor Swift, in Ms. Americana, 2020

I’m so proud to say I’ve never pretended to hate pink or stopped wearing it even when some girls mocked me for it 🤝

I'm strong, intelligent, independent, and a girly girl! Damn proud of it, too. I like having long hair, wearing makeup, wearing dresses, glitter, being pretty, dislike sports, enjoy reading, writing, drawing, got straight As in school, have a degree, bought my own home, and raised two kids, one of them entirely on my own. Shout out to girls who are proud to be girls.

I remember when I was a girl I loved Kim Possible. She loved to shop, cheerlead, and stuffed animals. She also saved the world and could go toe to toe with anyone. I really hated the remake because it seemed to mock her girl side and took away her cheerleading. It made her seem like she was a cry baby and not the girl who did cry, get mad, happy, and loving. When you create a character that is girly and tough you create something that little girls feel important. And I know I’m not alone. Every time I talk about this show with different age groups and it is women, they lit up. They talk about how it made them feel confident.

When I was a kid I was bullied by other girls for liking pink because that was too "girly" not "cool". I asked my sister if I was a girly girl or tomboy and she said, "neither." I think most girls aren't completely girly girls or tomboys. We're just human.

I felt this Trop’s effects are school. Last night, all my friends were talking about there first impressions of each other. I am very girly and never go to school without heals and a matching outfit. All my friends said “well after seeing walking down the halls in your outfits, I thought you were some shallow snake.” When you’re 16 years old, hearing that most people might not like you before even saying two words to you kind of hurts...

"it costs money to be girly". That s essential. A lot of us are not more "well taken care of" cause we cannot afford being too much feminine in the manner we would like. It takes time and money. Being feminine, even as a man (who dresses well and have proper manners and is polished) is expensive. Definitely not for everybody.

A pattern that I've noticed is that a lot of kids reject 'girly girl' things until they're old enough to recognize the prejudice and appreciate the 'girly girl' for what it is. (Also this vid made me think of that New Girl quote where Jess tells the lawyer... "I brake for birds, I rock a lot of polka dots, I have touched glitter in the last 24 hours. But that doesn’t mean that I’m not smart and tough and strong. Now I’m going to go pay my fine with checks that have baby farm animals on them, bitch!"

I absolutely adore this channel.

being a girly girl isnt a bad thing but media makes it seem like it is

also important to note: feminine coded character feelings aren’t always just disregarded, but often viewed as vapid and childish. jessica is treated, in both novel and book, as immature and lacking any depth, when she actually tries really hard to be bella’s friend. she opens up to her, keeps trying to uphold friendship while bella is going insane over a dude she knew a few months (much more immature imo), and is actually rly emotionally intelligent. she notices how bella is acting off constantly, and she’s aware and understanding of her own feelings, and her friends around her. she’s not perfect, but she isn’t a one dimensional person either

'Lottie' from The Princess and the Frog is the best written girly character ever. Hands Down

We also shouldn't bash on women who genuinely want to get married and raise a family as her goal. It's freedom of choice for many people, and we have the right to choose what we want in life. No matter how simple or difficult it may be.

I remember in the Harry Potter books I got so upset when Molly, Ginny and Hermionie didn’t like Fleur bc she was too “girly”. They acted as if they were so different, when in reality Fleur was just like them smart, brave, caring she was just conventionally pretty

Elle Woods is the epitome of a girl that isn’t afraid to be herself and wouldn’t care less about what everyone assumes about her💜

I'm going to edit this because now that I'm reading it. it sounds kinda cringe 😬 😅: I don't like it when both a tomboy and girly girl fights over a boy.

Charlotte from Princess and the frog as well! It was refreshing to see true friendship between her and Tiana

I wasted so many years in elementary and middle school not wearing dresses and trying to create a tomboy image because I internalized the idea that being a girly-girl was bad. Frick that! Dresses are amazing! Girls' interests are valid and not on a tomboy/girly-girl binary!!!

I am sincerely proud of myself for getting over my "Not like other girls" phase and for fully embracing my girly self now

This is why Blair Waldorf was such a great character. Girly, feminine, strong, vulnerable, smart, witty, charming.

I wanna see a teen film where a dark skin black girl plays the main character and she's a kind, caring, and super-duper girly. I've always been a daddy's girl and this hyperfeminine style of clothing and body language is my pale pink cup of tea.

Being a tom-boy growing up gave me such a false sense of power. I felt like I had to trade femininity for respect. When I was the girl playing in the mud and scoffing a other girls it gave me a small protection blanket, like if I sneer at them then I'll be left alone, I wont be dismissed or belittled because I'm a big strong boy too, I'm smart enough to dismiss girlyness I'm "not like other girls". Then when I grew up a bit it had been so ingrained in me that femininity was bad that I felt like my entire identity was being challenged when- *gasp* I actually like dresses? and nail polish?? I think its harmful to shame and dismiss any performance of identity period.

my classmates lowkey made fun of me cuz im too " girly ", i always wore dresses, i use makeup, i like pink but it's just my style.. i just wanna be myself.

The thing is: you can look girly and like pretty things, but that doesn’t mean that’s all you are as a person. You can be and like whatever. I’m girly but I love rock music and horror movies. And that’s okay. You can act like a lady, and be a badass at the same time.

"Fine! I cared. I’m a girly girl. I like boys, and I don’t like it when they’re mean to me, and I don’t like it when they stop kissing me and start kissing my friends, I’m not that cool, I’m not Juno, homeslice."

I love being girly girl. I love my perfume collection, my makeup collection and I will go on a jewelry haul after this. When I have the money, i will collect luxury handbags. I love being a girly girl. I think my life is boring without girliness.

I am MAD they didn’t talk about Elle Woods, because she’s the embodiment of this video.

I watched "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" for the first time ever a few months ago and I didn't get the impression that we were being encouraged to look down on Marilyn's character - in fact, the big speech the character makes towards the end about how she's labelled a gold-digger for doing the same thing men do by other means made me think the movie was created to push back on the trope. The character shows creativity, ingenuity, ruthlessness and razor-sharp intelligence throughout the movie. She is so self-aware and deliberately subverts the power dynamic in her story.

So we arbitrarily created "feminine" expectations and then arbitrarily devalued them lol

I mean, Lydia is given a much fairer discourse in the book. She's motivated partly by her mother's playing favourites with her children based on marriage prospects, partly by sibling rivalry, partly by thirst for romance and adventure, and partly by being strongly interested in Wickham even before Lizzy. She's explicitly attracted to soldiers because their wives get to go with them to interesting places and get to move in varied social circles. She's jealous of her sisters not only getting interest from men, but also getting to travel and getting parental attention and approval. Marrying Wickham means marrying before her sisters, getting to be her mother's favourite again, getting to travel and to be seen as an adult. She's deemed silly and unthinking, but she's not unsympathetic and her motivations are pretty obviously spelled out throughout. She's just a teenager who makes a bad choice and never has a chance to grow from it or redeem herself because of the society around her, a consistent criticism of society in Jane Austin's books. Lydia is not once framed as the villain, she's just a "foolish girl" whose naive adolescent arrogance made her a prime victim for a known predator. Darcy's more sensible and reserved sister very nearly did the exact same thing.

When I was a teen, I used to distance myself from being a girly girl and wanted to be "not like other girls". Hence, I forced myself to not do things that stereotypical girly girls do. Like love romances, or boy bands, or the colour pink. As subconsciously, my inner misogyny told me that these things are considered weak. But now, I embrace my femininity and true self and never felt stronger.

Everyone has to learn we're not just girly or cool or nerdy or a tomboy. We can have a full multi-faceted personality and not one of these traits is inherently better or worse than the other.

I hate it when a guy is called gay because he likes some feminine things. I'm straight. But I got called gay from some guy on the bus for singing along to a Selena Gomez song. How is like women singers or Action shows with female leads gay? I like Selena Gomez, Miley Cyrus and She-Ra (1980s) Monster High, Wonder Woman. But I also like Power Rangers Godzilla and blood soaked horror. So, I get annoyed sometimes.

I hate how the media only portrays that guys want the "I'm not like other girls" type.All the popular girls that wear makeup and are actually nice are just seen as Stuck-Up and mean.Any girl can wear makeup and like food.Any girl can play video games.I hate how they make you wanna choose.

I have been fat-shamed my whole life and as an adolescent and a teenager I related very very strongly to the "I'm not girly yuck" trope. I would wear boy clothes, and play sports and video games and hang around with guys bitching about "other girls". Only when I actually started living away from home and found a sisterhood in my "girly girl" roommates who taught me everything from grooming, processing complex emotions, being independent that I realised how wrong I was. Everyone is flawed and has their own strengths. This is a brilliant video

As a mother to a 4 year old girl: although i always offered her all color choices, all toy types, nomatter if its a car, building blocks or a barbie and always tried to shop clothes that include all styles - she LOVES pink, glitter, dolls, dresses, princesses, pretty much from the start 😂🤷‍♀️ not all stereotypical preferences are taught, some are genuinely just there! She is a girly girl without me forming her into one. But she is also bright, clever, empathetic, caring, goofy, adventerous, energetic, bookish, artsy and a great friend. So what does that tell us in the end? Being a girly girl doesnt define us whatsoever. It means literally nothing if you like pink, princess dresses and romance. Because you can simultaneously be a badass and a geek. Be who you are, unapologetically!

"Never let anyone dull your sparkle" Marilyn Monroe

A great example of breaking the trope of a girly girl not being competent is Brooklyn 99. The episode where rosa encourages amy to go wedding dress shopping, and amy takes down a perp wearing Dress. I don't think any other show does it this good

I hate the whole thing of girls being put down for being "girly". Like, I sometimes wear dresses and flowery clothes and other times I wear jeans and flannel shirts. It doesn't have to be one or the other. And it also doesn't have to be that one is somehow inferior to the other. There's nothing wrong with girls wanting to wear pink and dresses and go shopping and do all those other "girly" things. And there's also nothing wrong with girls wanting to wear jeans and t shirts and play in the mud and do sports (I don't do sports, my CFS would kick my ass if I did...) or be a slob. Like, I hate makeup (for me, there's nothing wrong with people wearing makeup) and that doesn't make me less of a girl. People have it in their heads that you can't enjoy the "girly" things in life and still be tough. They also have it in their heads that there's something wrong with girls not wanting to be these strong badass women. Or that there's something wrong with girls wanting marriage and kids and a happy life with someone they love. Being a strong woman means doing what you feel comfortable with, what *you* believe in and following your dreams. Not going around slapping guys who you deem assholes or defending every person you think needs it, or fighting wars or doing a "mans" job to prove a woman can do it. It just means doing what it is you want to do with your life, and if that's get married and have kids, and be a girly girl, then so fucking be it, be who you want.

As Karen from the Mean Girls Musical said, “I expect to run the world in shoes I cannot walk in!”

I adore being a girly girl and NO ONE could ever take my femininity away from me.

I wish both society and mainstream media can stop antagonizing girly girls.

Its so sad how many Women are starting to realize that liking girly things and liking the color pink is not a bad thing. And thats on internalized misogyny

y'all got me crying my eyes out alone in my room. i've hated the color pink since i was six years old and i'm only just now undoing all the internalized misogyny that's been a part of me my whole life. i've kept myself from enjoying so many things because i didn't want to be seen as shallow or stupid or weak. i judged other girls for their clothes and interests and looked down on them like they were less than me, when they're just as much a person as me, with thoughts and feelings and dreams and everything. i've blocked myself off from forming friendships with girly girls, when in reality they are some of the smartest, kindest, most complex people you will ever meet. and i really do love the color pink.

I am a tomboy, but absolutely hate when the girly girl is portrayed as shallow, this portrait is superficial not the girl

I used to not wear dresses when I was in my “not like other girls” phase in middle school but literally ended up being like all the other girls because we were all in the same phase 😳. I feel hot af in dresses and I’m gonna wear them all summer thx 🤩

it's always like this: 2 girly girl fights over one boy 1 tomboy gets to be fought by 2 boys

I'm so happy to see that being feminine is becoming less taboo. I actually just finished watching gossip girl . I love that Blair Waldorf is girly while also being ambitious and smart. She pursues love and a career. We don't have to be one dimensional people.

I feel that, as a society, we're constantly reminded that having feminine interests is less than. That "masculine" interests are the neutral and fun while feminine interests, like shopping or make-up or teen romance novels, are inferior and shallow. It's because of this that I sometimes don't understand if my interests have actually risen due to my personality or if I've simply adopted them to distance myself from the "inferior girly girl"

As a girly girl myself, I gotta say that Buffy the Vampire Slayer is one of the main reasons why I've never not fully embraced my girly-ness. The main character being both girly and a badass vampire slayer is a part of why I already associated skirts and dresses with power before anyone could try to tell me otherwise.

I used to discourage my daughters to be girlie, but read a good book about respecting girls for what they like and not negate it. It changed how I raised them and I think they were much happier. They have diverse likes, and that's great.

"Would you call me selfish?" - Cher “Well, not to your face." - Dionne

The hilarity of the aversion to the colour pink is that a few centuries ago pink was considered A MANLY colour because it was STRONG and ROBUST. While Blue was considered the girly colour because it was WEAK and SOFT. Just goes to show it's all about perspective

I think that's why I love girly girl characters who are quick witted and have golden hearts. It's such a breath of fresh air

I liked legally blonde, because even though she was girly, she was hella smart, determined and knew what she was doing even though people underestimated her.

We shame the girly girl but the "tomboy" is still.. pretty feminine. Butch women and masc women are also shamed. Womanhood is very much damned if you do, damned if you don't. Which is why it's so important to just be whoever you're comfortable being.

I went from “I only wear t-shirts and play video games” to “I love dresses, rom-com and video games”

I think the main takeaway is to like whatever you want, just be a considerate person with integrity and respect who also listens to other people's perspectives. Everyone demonstrates these principles differently but people will notice if you have a consistent code.

I love girly stuff since i was a kid up till now. And I am a dude. Personally, being girly isnt a bad thing. For some people it is like their defense mechanism. And some way to boost your confident level.

Arya: You never would have survived what I had. Sansa: Nor would you. That second line is what I think should have been written in order to pay homage to the different strengths of the tomboy and the girly-girl. They both have strengths.

I’m both “tomboy” and “girly” I like and enjoy everything

Honestly, these videos inspire me so much. Predominantly described as a 'tomboy', I find a little bit of each trope relatable to me. I think that explains how complex, sophisticated and versatile we are as women.

the fact that when we, as little girls, claimed our favorite color was blue in an attempt to get rid of our connection to pink is heartbreakingly deep.

This makes me think of Taylor Swift's quote, "I want to wear pink and tell you how I feel about politics." Femininity doesn't signify shallowness or passivity. There is such thing as being 'girly' and feminine while also having opinions and aspirations. That's why Elle Woods is probs my favourite example of this :)

The only exception that comes to mind where girly girls can also be strong: Sailor Moon and other magical girl anime think about it, anime has given girly girls a unique kind of strength that you dont typically find in western media and they, in fact, embrace it.

As a girly girl with a lot of layers and dreams, I love seeing three dimensional, kind girly girls portrayed in media and being unapologetic about it, like Elle Woods. It gets old seeing girly girls that are mean to tomboys and it fuels them to become NLOGs and pick me's.

I actually love how Clueless treated Dionne. She’s not less than Cher, not silenced and she has a personality. If you watched Clueless more than once you probably will understand the references here. Some are a bit out of context but still a great video

If a woman feels confident, beautiful and powerful wearing a pink dress, heels, makeup and with her hair and nails done then that's perfectly fine. As long as a woman or any person is stepping out of their front door feeling confident and powerful, being their truest and most authentic self and is presenting the best version of themselves into the world then we should celebrate that not bash it. If a woman's truest and most authentic self is having her hair and nails done and looking nice, wearing a gorgeous flowy dress, high heels and a face full of makeup then that's amazing because she is stepping out and showing the world that she is comfortable in her own skin and her own identity and she is presenting the best version of herself into the world. none of those things take away from her skills, her intelligence or anything that she achieves in her life or in her career. thank you for coming to my TED talk.

Aang is a another great example of a guy being feminine, Toph herself says it at the ember island play

I used to hide my love of makeup because all of my friends thought it was “girly” but... I am a girl...why did I think there was a problem with that

"it takes money to be girly" -Cinderella has entered the chat-

When i was young, i loved the colour pink so much that my room was painted pink and my sheets were pink with flowers and i was the girliest girl out there. When i hit puberty, i started to hate pink because i thought it was weak and actively avoided wearing the colour at all. I went thru that im not like other girls edgy tumblr phase. I’m so glad i have grown since then and realize that society made me hate those things

Has anyone noticed how there are hardly any black( I mean dark skinned) girly girls? We really need to change that :(

I’m constantly mocked for being “so girly”... but I don’t really care cause I look cute and feel cuter 🥰

I’ve always hated how girly girls are mocked in the media and our girly interests and likes are seen as stupid. I am a total girly girl in real life. I love pink, I love ballet, I love fashion, I love frilly cutesy dresses, I love puppies, I love Disney, I love unicorns, I love everything and anything girly (other than makeup, I’ve never really liked makeup. A lot of people I know have bullied and criticized me for liking these sorts of things. I even had a “friend” back at my old school tell me that I am the only one who likes those things. And I have had some other “friends” from that same school tell me that kind of stuff is “babyish”. Those comments really hurt… They made me feel like there was something wrong with me for liking that kind of stuff. The media doesn’t help with depicting girly girls as selfish, stuck up, materialistic, and cruel. I am shy, introverted, generally would consider myself as friendly, and I hate the idea of being rude and stuck up. I would love to see a show where we can have a main character who is girly but also kind, empathetic, and selfless. So what if we like girly stuff? That doesn’t dictate our whole personality! Just let us like what we enjoy and mind your own business! We aren’t hurting anyone!