From barbiecore to sad girl winter, have we reached peak label culture?

TikTok Labels Gone To Far?

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Opinion


From barbiecore to sad girl winter, have we reached peak label culture?

By Chloe Laws

3 years ago

2 min read

These days, there’s an internet label for every interest and aesthetic, but have they gone too far? Chloe Laws explores the digital marketing and content creation of… simply being alive and having interests.

‘Warm Girl’ is the term that really tipped me over the edge. Up until that point, I’d been enjoying the rise in the categorisation of aesthetics and interests that we’ve seen permeate the everyday vernacular (largely thanks to TikTok). I had a Hot Girl Summer a few years ago; I found Dark Academia a refreshingly sweet trend for teens to align with (for those not familiar, it’s an aesthetic concerned with art and classic literature). Goblin Girl particularly spoke to me, as did Feral Girl Summer because, hey, I like wearing big jumpers and not brushing my hair as much as the next person.

But these social media labels aren’t all as innocent as they seem. The Clean Girl aesthetic was polarising, with the ‘clear skin and perfect hair’ idealisation ostracising a lot of women. Or take the That Girl trend, which became damaging through its promotion of perfectionism and hustle culture. According to BACP registered counsellor Ruth Micallef, it “encourages women to constantly strive for perfection, which is unrealistic and unsustainable for any length of time. It can lead to burnout and when we inevitably fail at living like That Girl, we’re left with feelings of shame, guilt and disappointment.”

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