In the Defence of the Girly Girl
How Hollywood caused you to hate femininity
It is not a joke that Americans get their history and culture entirely from Hollywood. The film industry is the most successful propaganda engine ever conceived and the internet has ensured that the American sphere of influence is also global. So it is not only Americans who get their history and culture from Hollywood, the rest of the world does too. Movies tell people how to organize human beings, how to understand and write the narratives of their own lives, and what to expect from different relationships and stages of life. An entire book could be written about how Hollywood movies shape the psyche of an entire culture’s ability to understand themselves and their own lives. How many people would think it’s normal to have sex in high school if they didn’t show it on tv? How many people would think that going to university is an inevitable next stage of life after high school if every single tv show character didn’t model that choice? How many people would disrespect their fathers and husbands in perverse humiliation if they didn’t see it in every single sitcom? There is one character in particular I want to focus on in this essay, however, and she is the girly girl.
What is a girly-girl? I am sure you are familiar with her. A caricature of her is usually cast as the villain in every american tv show and movie. She is the girl who cares about her appearance, often to the point of vanity. She likes makeup, clothes and being pampered, she always has nice nails, and is interested in things like gossping and spending her father’s money. She is usually vapid and stupid and has no real interests. This spoiled brat is usually called “a princess” though she has nothing of the nobility inherent in the definition of that word, the perversion of it perhaps stems from an anti-monarchical attitude that is part and parcel of the American psyche. This “girly girl” may seem to be the most beautiful girl, but the climax of the mythical american teen drama is the moment when the tomboy girl who is usually covered in dirt and playing sports, wears a dress and combs her hair for the first time, and wins the hero’s heart, and where the girly girl is hit by a bus or dunked in a pool, or experiences some other public humilation.
For any thinking person, however, the caricature made by Hollywood is so obviously born of resentment and bitterness from the writers. The girl who was raised by parents who loved her and looked after her, who did not face significant hardship in her upbringing, was able to retain her softness and femininity. They turned her ability to depend on her father financially into being a spoiled brat. They turned her softness and twisted it into weakness and stupidity. She was beautiful and enjoyed her beauty and they perverted this into vanity. Every aspect of the healthy feminine is present in these caricatures, just twisted and perverted. They glorify the girl who has to work two jobs after school. The girl who wears boy’s clothes and plays sports is shown to be more virtuous, kind hearted, and true. The girl who suffers and behaves more like a boy is more valuable.