Charlotte Jons is a first-year journalism major and writes “The Peanut Gallery” for the Daily News. Her views do not necessarily reflect those of the newspaper.
If you were on the internet in the summer of 2023, you likely saw the term “girl dinner.” Created by TikToker Olivia Maher, according to Table Magazine, the trend showcased a snack-centered dinner, often with a collection of various cheeses, pickles, bread and other smaller, random foods.
Similarly, “girl math” was the next girlhood term to take the internet by storm. This refers to women using their own mathematical system to justify something, typically a purchase.
In the same summer that the girlhood terms of TikTok began to run the world, Greta Gerwig, a Hollywood writer and director known for showcasing feminine dynamics on screen, released her third film. This movie was, of course, “Barbie.”
This movie quickly became 2023’s highest-grossing film. “Barbie” kicked off another internet trend, one that inspired female friend groups to dress in pink and attend the movie’s showings together to celebrate the female-centered story.
That same summer, Taylor Swift began her extremely successful Eras Tour. Although Swift has received criticism for her tour’s grandeur and environmental impacts, it is impossible to overlook the positive social impact of this tour on women everywhere, giving them a largely female space to come together for the most streamed solo artist of all time.
This summer, the Paris 2024 Olympics made sure these trends didn’t fizzle out like other internet phenomena, with new female Olympians competing and winning: Simone Biles, Ilona Maher, Coco Gauff and Suni Lee. For the first time in Olympic history, the Paris 2024 Games saw an equal number of men and women competing.
The game is changing.
With this, the “trendy girlhood” concept snowballed. The end of 2023 brought the bow trend, with many women loving the look of a ribbon on clothing, in their hair or worn on accessories. “Female rage” and “girlhood” films began circulating on cinephile’s independent algorithms, sparking re-watch parties of any woman-led film.
Tradwife (or “traditional wife”) TikTok accounts even commend women for leaning into their femininity and allowing themselves a simple, romantic life in the housewife lifestyle.
And that brings us to today, March 2025.
It is no secret that women have repeatedly been shown more criticism and put into more direct danger than their male counterparts. Considering Title IX began in 1972, the guaranteed right to abortion began in 1973, woman-owned bank accounts and credit began in 1974 and legal protection against sexual workplace harassment began in 1977, a lot of legal developments that grant more power to women are a lot newer than we imagined.
There has been a repeated cry out for power to the female community for as long as our country has been creating its history, taking the forms of riots, letters, strategized attacks and peaceful protests.
For the longest time, the word “power” in our country has been strictly male-owned. “Power” was the CEO of a company in menswear. It was the tomboy stereotype spoonfed to me as a little girl, all because wearing pink meant weakness. It was the all-male presidential line-up on the posters that I have spent my entire life looking at in classrooms.
Psychology Today underlines this with the article “Reflections on Feminine Power” by CEO of Women Rising Megan Dalla-Camina. Power, the article explains, is something shared between the genders in a complex and difficult way. Dalla-Camina details that power is different when held by a woman than when held by a man — different in appearance, energy and amount.
The age-old female cry for power is a repeated theme in our history. And if the theme is so repeated and obvious, why hasn’t the problem been solved entirely?
The danger in general attempts at change in the feminist community is that they can often place a filter onto the content’s viewer, indirectly saying that to be a successful woman you must be exactly what is shown.
This decade’s “trendy girlhood” doesn’t trip into this pitfall. While other movements might encourage women to swap out their romance or feminine desires entirely for the idea of high success and achievement, these trends of the 2020s allow women their own agency over what womanhood, and the power within it, looks like to them.
For example, while many feminist movements advise and push against it, the tradwife trend has encouraged women to settle down in a simple, comforting and traditional lifestyle — if they choose to do so.
Other decade trends, such as Sabrina Carpenter’s Short N’ Sweet tour, give women another option of lifestyle and success to choose from. This one supports women through dating around and having extreme self-confidence and personal success, all while dressing in pretty dresses in the same way their sisters in the tradwife community can.
Other trends still give more contrasting options to young girls finding their life’s desire. Ilona Maher, American rugby union player and 2024 Paris Olympic bronze medalist, has gathered a cult following on her social media platforms for being a single woman who chooses to prioritize her personal career and personal achievement.
However, the rugby player, while outwardly intense and strong, isn’t devoid of femininity despite her inherently and stereotypically masculine athletic success. Maher competed on “Dancing With the Stars” last year, spending the season in gowns and makeup. She placed second.
That is what feminism boils down to, as perfectly shown in this decade's girlhood trends: choice. Women being able to choose their identity is such a big part of the movement, one that is simply being packaged differently in the 2020s.
I personally find lots of joy in my own femininity.
For a long time, I tried to make my identity more masculine. I connected masculinity to an almost effortless power that I felt I could never get with feminine hips and long hair.
And yet, in 2024, I won my second Ohio Speech and Debate state championship title in a pink mini-skirt suit after presenting a thesis on this very topic. I wore heels, bows and makeup. I was able to reach the success I had worked for.
I still hold many gender biases and beliefs that I am working on removing from my mindset. The inherent rewiring of power as a non-gendered concept, as well as prioritizing female choice, consistently is something that I think many of us can work on as we navigate these new girlhood culture trends. We are all responsible for continuing the work of all of the strong women before and around us this Women’s History Month and every day forward.
Contact Charlotte Jons via email charlotte.jons@bsu.edu.
Read More
Husband and wife owners of Prairie Hills Farm strive to provide the community with local agricultural products
By Katherine Hill / 1 hours agoThe first-generation farmers have been feeding the community since 2021.
Bard To Be Wild Ep1: I Am The Bard Man GooGoo Gajoob
13 hours agoFollow Ashton Weir, Ian Fraser, Jaxx Lomax, and the DM Chris Dawson on a D&D adventure. In this episode the adventurers are given a quest by one of Mdame Freona's daughters.
Ball State softball sweeps Bowling Green in doubleheader
By Rylan Crum / 15 hours agoBall State defeated Bowling Green in Saturday's doubleheader 2-0 and improved to 21-8 overall.
