When I was growing up, it wasn’t cool to be like the other girls. Yes, I know, it’s a taboo thing to say in the Lord’s year of 2025, but it’s true. In my teens the “I’m not like other girls”, manic-pixie-tumblr girl aesthetic drew me in like a moth to a flame. It wasn’t until I was older that I realised how fucking stupid that mentality was — and how much happiness I missed out on — by shying away from the joys of a collective female experience.
But this week, I was reminded of the joys of girlhood when a TikTok trend landed on my FYP. The trend saw people, mostly women, share a pic or video of themselves alongside a list of things that they shamelessly love, like an overpriced fancy coffee, rehashing drama with your friends over brunch or buying a new dress for every occasion — despite its slightly negative connotations.
I’m not sure if it was the powerful electric guitar from the audio (Joe Walsh’s “Rocky Mountain Way”, in case you’re wondering) or the frequency of these videos appearing on my FYP, but they started to feel less like a joke making fun of our collectively “basic” traits, and more of a tongue-in-cheek fuck you to those who made us feel shitty about liking this stuff in the first place.
The more videos I came across, the more they felt like a celebration of girlhood and the good, the bad and the ugly that came with the unifying female experience, whether that be admitting that you love glitter pens, a crispy diet coke or getting into debates with men on a night out.
It was a trend that made me feel grateful that I was now a reformed “not like other girls” wanker, and I couldn’t help but be a part of it.
And I’m certainly not the only one.
Journalist Madi, 29, jumped on the trend as soon as she saw it on her own FYP. To her, it wasn’t just a chance to use a hot pic (also a plus) but a way to celebrate things that women are often made fun of for.
“For so long women have been taught that the little things they do that feel aligned with womanhood are stupid or silly,” Madi explained.
“These things — like enjoying Taylor Swift or a cheeky round of gossip — are always reduced to being less than what men love.
“If a man does that trend he could be like, ‘I love football and I love sports and I love beers with the boys’, but they’re never things that men are made fun of. Whereas all the little things that women do, they are laughed at.
“By being like, unfortunately I do love all of these things, it’s a little act of feminism and acceptance from one woman to another saying, ‘everything we’re doing is more than acceptable’.
For gaming content creator Courtney, 30, jumping on the trend was a way to connect with other women with similar passions.
“I wanted to do the trend because I want to connect with women who have the same interest as me and see more women in my online space,” she said. But ultimately, it was the unifying experience of girlhood — despite our differences — that made it interesting.
“I love this trend because it shows that girlhood is the same for all of us but also different for all of us — and that’s fun to celebrate,” Courtney shared.
For Jasmine, writer and the co-host of Culture Club podcast, it simply isn’t that deep.
“I love a trend that takes five minutes to create! I was laughing at a few I’d seen so I decided to make my own,” she said.
But she did note there was something refreshing about leaning into the less performative version of womanhood and embracing the less-than-perfect aspects about ourselves.
“As women, we’re constantly expected to perform, be perfect and be grateful to be in the room,” she explained.
“I’ve been dealing with some burn out this year and am leaning in to less performing for the sake of performing. It takes a lot of unlearning when most of us were socialised to always be the ‘good girl’ as children and then the ‘easy to work with’ woman in the workforce.”
Jasmine says that this trend is showing the “shadow parts” of ourselves, and likened it to an online bonding moment which “feels like admitting secrets under the covers at a sleepover”.
“One of mine was posting instead of replying to my friends’ texts,” she continued.
“I constantly feel guilty about the expectation to respond to people quickly and admitting that this is a less desirable trait but I do partake in it lessened the guilt a bit. It’s a cathartic trend!”
Reclaiming girlhood & typically ‘female’ interests
As awful as it is, the interests of women and girls have always been downplayed and denigrated — even with evidence of the incredibly powerful presence of a female-dominated audience as economic drivers and tastemakers throughout history.
Take Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, for example. Hoards of women dressed up in sparkles to attend the once-in-a-lifetime tour. It was a special and unifying experience for the Swifties, but one that copped immense ridicule from men and a big chunk of the mainstream media.
As pointed out by screenwriter Yve Blake in her viral Ted Talk ‘For The Love Of Fangirls’, we tend to take a vastly different cultural approach when thousands of boys and men are dressing up in their team’s colours at a footy game — despite the similarities.
“Why is it that young girls screaming their lungs out for a pop star is considered crazy, psycho, scary, a bit much? But the image of young boys screaming for a footballer is perfectly normal?” she asked.
“Boys crying at the footy, that’s the love of the game. Girls crying at a Justin Bieber concert? That’s pathetic.”
Thankfully, over the last few years there has been a shift in who sets the tone of what is ‘cool’ on social media.
With the emergence of a faster paced, more algorithm-based model like TikTok, there’s no longer a one-size fits all approach of trends like there was on Myspace of Tumblr.
While this tailored approach can be dangerous (hello echo chambers and harmful messaging), finding your people can be a blessing that makes you feel seen, heard and worthy.
The emergence of girlhood online — and the “unfortunately I do love” trend — is a great example of how far we’ve come since the “I’m not like other girls” rhetoric. Now, it’s not just acceptable to be like other girls, it’s celebrated. And it’s trends like this that remind me how happy I am to be just like other girls.
Lead image: TikTok
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