Get in Loser, we’re going shopping! And so it goes; we’ve been beckoned once again by the all-feminine encompassing Regina George from 2004’s semi-cult-classic chick flick Mean Girls.
Get in Loser, we’re going shopping! And so it goes; we’ve been beckoned once again by the all-feminine encompassing Regina George from 2004’s semi-cult-classic chick flick Mean Girls. But who’s We? Who is going shopping? It’s always da gurlz, isn’t it?
There’s not much debate regarding how often the superfluous exhibition of women’s fashion compares to that measly corner men get. Obviously, not all women care about fashion, and not all men don’t care about fashion. But c’mon, the ratio imbalance is huge.
As much as this is played out for us in the movies, we experience it in material reality just as well. Who can forget the huffs, puffs, and sighs from the male characters in our lives all those times Mother wanted to enter TK Maxx during a sale? Well actually, we do forget. We’re not overly inclined to remember behaviours that are “expected” and prescribed.
Our fathers, brothers, male friends, and now in adulthood, the great adventure into “adult relationships”, our boyfriends too are reminding us again of how much men “don’t care” for clothes. But the same question begs time and time again – how influenced are we collectively by popular media?
The relaying idea is that these boys are only introduced to fashion once they get a girlfriend. In other words, close enough to a girl that their environments change alongside.
While the influences of socialisation have long been perpetuated through movies, TV, and other popular media, it is our century that’s been subjected to an unprecedented kind i.e., social media. What’s unique about it, though, is how it provides a “socialising platform” to ordinary people (like, not movie stars or whatever). They’re so good we even straight-up called them influencers, and if there’s one thing wannabe influencers do most it’s hopping on manufactured trends.
The “Girlfriend Effect” has been trending on the social media app TikTok since August of 2023. Essentially, it’s a long-lasting trend wherein girls post before and after pictures of their boyfriends who have seemingly undergone a life-altering makeover under their company. The relaying idea is that these boys are only introduced to fashion once they get a girlfriend. In other words, close enough to a girl that their environments change alongside.
If the virality of this trend tells us anything, it’s about the continued reality of and fixation on gender performance. However, this trend is pointing to a positive spin challenging the tenacious notion of such performances.
Then you have women on the opposite side of this, obsessed with beauty and perception because of how much it’s presented as a currency for them. These are not choices but learned behaviours.
We are finally seeing straight men allowed to express themselves without being called slurs. Until recently (still now, just less), straight men were often assumed gay at best and derided at worst if they were to dress outside of current prescribed fashion trends that were supposed to represent masculinity; which is, of course, a performance. Then you have women on the opposite side of this, obsessed with beauty and perception because of how much it’s presented as a currency for them. These are not choices but learned behaviours.
The clothes we put on our backs every day create seamless impressions on other people. I personally love a white shirt under an oversized waistcoat – and have many of varying colours. I’m a straight woman who has been asked many times if I’m gay – simply because my clothing does not prescribe to the extreme end of “femininity”. Are we still linking sexuality to choice of clothes? Apparently so.
While the “girlfriend effect” may be holding men accountable to society’s pressures of physical beauty the same way women have been held to that standard all of their lives, it is also setting them free from the “masculine” pressure to blend in.
This may look odd on the (godforsaken) gender-binary spectrum; as if we want men and women to swap social pressures and slingshot one another on opposite sides – just out of spite. But in reality, can’t we all try meeting in the middle somewhere? If the spectrum insists on existing, isn’t that the best we can do for now? Can’t we let men care for beauty while we allow women not to care? I think we can.
The “girlfriend effect” trend celebrates the breakdown of a fabricated barrier. Seeing straight men proud of their new look and fulfilled by their physical appearance is a good, good thing! Perhaps soon they won’t need extreme adjacency with a woman to open up that door – Sir, you can open it yourself.