The 'Girl' Trend Self-Infantilizes Women and Undermines Political Power
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/profile/elle-hunt. "The hill I will die on: not everything is a ‘girl’ thing – stop gendering and infantilising it all | Elle Hunt | The Guardian." October 3, 2026. www.theguardian.com
The Gist
The author argues that calling everyday activities 'girl dinner,' 'girl walk,' etc. isn't just silly fun—it's actually self-infantilizing and plays into the hands of people trying to roll back women's rights. She thinks women should act and speak like the powerful adults they are, especially now when women's rights are under threat globally.
Conclusion
Adult women should stop using 'girl' framing for everyday activities (girl dinner, girl walk, girl boss, etc.) because this trend is self-infantilizing and politically harmful, not merely harmless fun.
Premises
- The 'girl' trend frequently functions as a Trojan horse for consumerism, prescribing new beauty products and fashions with each iteration
- The trend is self-infantilizing, reducing grown women's identities and activities to a childlike framing
- Women's rights are regressing worldwide, according to the UN
- At a time when many are actively working to disenfranchise women, self-infantilizing language risks giving ammunition to those seeking to strip away women's rights
- Women should stand firm in and actively express their political power rather than undermine it through trivializing language
- Younger generations of girls are counting on adult women to model strength rather than self-diminishment
Assumptions
- Language and self-framing meaningfully influence broader political and social perceptions of women's capability and rights
- There is a meaningful causal or associative link between casual 'girl' trend language and the erosion of women's political standing
- Infantilizing language cannot be fully separated from its political consequences, even when used ironically or playfully
- Women as a group bear some responsibility to model empowered behavior for younger generations
- The current political climate for women's rights is precarious enough that symbolic language choices carry real stakes