Because acknowledging the consequences of popular online trends on girls and women is hot girl behavior.Â
Similarly to many other female-oriented online trends, âGirl Dinnerâ took the internet by storm with thousands of videos, eventually even a jingle, and a significant number of âgirl-codingâ variations following the initial âGirl Dinnerâ posts. The term first appeared in a video by creator Olivia Maher, in which she refers to her meal of cheese, bread, grapes, and wine as a âGirl Dinnerâ. After all the euphoria it brought to female users of TikTok because it was ever so relatable, âGirl Dinnerâ started escalating. Some users started saying it affects young womenâs body image, some started applying the âGirlâ formula to things like driving and math, and opinions diverged on whether it should be discussed as a potential danger to young women or disregarded as something harmless.
Girl Dinner did start as a harmless trend: Emily Heil writes for the Washington Post that it started as a way to free women from âthe expectation of society to nurture and provide for others, [to] enjoy the kind of self-indulgent âyou do youâ eating that men have long felt entitled to.â In other words, it was a way for girls to have fun and come together over their quirky, sometimes unusual, meals. Initial videos depicted simple meals like pasta with nothing but olive oil and cheese, chicken nuggets and ranch, and unusual snacks like chocolate pieces mixed with strawberry yogurt. However, as time went by, these âGirl Dinnersâ started to look a little too, well, little. One creator has voiced her concern of a rendition of the Girl Dinner trend that consisted of three olives, going on to argue that the trend is not âquirkyâ or âcuteâ: âSome people have been saying itâs not that serious. It is that serious, itâs very serious. This is an issue so many young girls struggle with. I grew up in the 2014 Tumblr age, when I was young and impressionable, and I still have the whole thigh gap thing stuck in my head.âÂ
Further down the âgirl-codedâ slope, the fact that Girl Dinner has become somewhat related to unhealthy body ideals is not the main problem for internet users. Instead of bringing young women together and making it easier for them to relate to each other, those against any form of âgirl-codingâ believe it further excludes women and girls and perpetuates stereotypes that women canât reach the same level as men.
Another user replies that terms such as âgirl mathâ, âgirl dinnerâ, and âi’m just a girlâ âall [derive] from an inherent sense of knowing & efficiency, without the care or expectation for it to make sense to other people,â which illustrates the controversy around the issue. In the same vein, netizens have voiced concern over the use of the term âgirl science,â which implies that something has no scientific backing but âjust makes sense.â Is girl-coding for or against us? Can it be both?
The original âGirl Dinnerâ trend may have been entirely harmless and purely humorous, but its ramifications have caused distress amongst women who worry about younger, impressionable women and girls who might come in contact with the negative side of the trend. It has also become another way to brand ourselves, as it usually happens in the media: girlhood has been made into something profitable, with a reach of so many people that it might be possible to use it against women to further exclude them.
Emily Contoism, a professor of media studies at the University of Tulsa and studies food and gender, told The Washington Post, âOutside the patriarchy, âgirlâ isnât diminutive or derisive or condescending â âgirlâ is complete and wonderful and fulfilled on her own termsâ. That way, Girl Dinner might always be prone to having negative connotations towards women, even if the pure idea of it was to unify and celebrate the little things common to all women and girls.Â
However, itâs one thing to want to represent traits of girlhood in mainstream media so that we all feel included and understood, and another to assign frivolous, immature, and unhealthy behaviors to girls exclusively. As Rebeca Jennings writes for Vox, âYou could say that labeling normal human behavior as âgirl-codedâ only otherizes women in an already patriarchal world.â