The Problem with TikTok's Favorite Phrase: "I'm Just a Girl."

"I don't need to learn to budget, I'm just a girl.""I'm so bad at math because I'm just a girl."

These statements are part of the "I'm just a girl" trend and just a few of the seriously degrading comments that come from this seemingly popular trend. Essentially, this trend helps girls find an excuse for their ailments and actions. There is finally a trendy excuse that 51.4% of the U.S. population can hide behind.

Not only is this statement extremely annoying, but it is also a bad way to look at life. This statement makes it seem like being a girl isn't a good thing. This statement originally surfaced in 1985, when the album "No Doubt" by Gwen Stefani came out.

The song insinuates that girls are less than men and that girls are just what they look like. This song suggests that girls are supposed to be a certain way and are constantly stereotyped based on their gender. There is some truth in the statement; girls do have stereotypes plastered on their backs. That doesn't mean we just go around using that as an excuse or as an insult to others.

Instead of encouraging girls to shoot for the stars and to seek roles that hold more responsibility, this trend does the exact opposite. It encourages girls to take the easy way out and focus on stereotypical things like the color pink, shopping, and stuffed animal collections. Although there is nothing wrong with liking those things, it becomes a problem when you are demeaning your worth by making the statement, "I'm just a girl."

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What is Becoming Problematic

Now society is using this statement to categorize girls as bad at math, girly girls, gossipers, un-athletic, and even worse, girlfriends who never eat. Is it possible that these are just jokes, or is it something more? It is obvious that these statements demean girls and women, but are they meant to be harmless?

It is important to remember that on most of these sites, like TikTok, about 25% of users under the age of 20 are more vulnerable than more experienced adults. Especially when it comes to consuming content on the internet and how it is perceived. If we look at one of the stereotypical statements like "girls are bad at math," we can easily see where crippling math anxiety can stem from.At a younger age, we pick up everything that we hear and see, and that is still true for teenagers. Hearing popular influencers who are of the same gender as the user might cause them to subconsciously pick up the ideas they are spitting out.

It isn't just on social media but in public as well. If you were to hear girls constantly using the statement "I'm just a girl" concerning being bad at math, you would slowly start feeling that same pain, even if you are good at math. On a subconscious level, you will start thinking that you don't have to be good at math or try because you are "just a girl." That is a negative effect that comes from this trend, whether you are partaking in it or witnessing others say it. If we have this mentality towards math and being girls, this generation will have girls and young women becoming afraid of math or constantly avoiding math.

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The Vicious Circle

Not every girl is a girly girl, and that's okay. What's not okay is demeaning girls for wanting to be or not to be one. This statement, if used in the context of being or not being a girly girl, can and most likely will confuse girls.

When we are younger, some of us care a lot about what people think and what is expected of us to be liked or to fit in. So this is the same; if society is painting a picture on social media saying that girls should be girly, then some of us might try to follow that trend.

The "I'm Just a Girl" trend is creating a vicious circle that will quickly go from one generation to the next, especially with the help of social media. You can easily say that social media is the problem and that the users on these platforms aren't mature or old enough to handle the content. That is a fair point; age and maturity contribute to the problems with this trend. The fact that there is no real age identification process for social media platforms exposes younger generations to the viciousness of this trend and others.

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Always Remember

When analyzing this trend, you see a pattern as well; you see that this is used as a way to decide the status of a girl. It is used to put girls down or to give girls an excuse for their actions. Saying that they are "just a girl" insinuates that we hold no responsibility for our actions; it's a way to take a load off our backs.

But what those participating in the trend don't know is that in the real world, you won't be able to use that as a crutch. If you make a mistake at your job, you can't say, "I'm just a girl." Your boss will look at you like you are crazy; they might even show you the door. It's important, especially when growing up, to not adopt these phrases because they will stick and transfer over to other parts of your life. This trend can have a lot of psychological damage to youth; it's a way of saying being a girl isn't a good thing. Own it, and don't try to hide your mistakes with a lame TikTok excuse.