Girly girl

Girly girl is a term for a girl or woman who presents herself in a traditionally feminine way. This may include wearing pink, using make-up, using perfume, having long hair, having long nails, dressing in dresses, skirts, pantyhoses and heels, and engaging in activities that are traditionally associated with femininity, such as talking about relationships.[1]

The term is often used in a derogatory manner, but it can also be used in a more positive way, especially when considering the fluidity of gender roles.[2] Being a "girly girl" can then be seen as a fluid and partially embodied position – a form of discourse taken up, discarded or modified for tactical or strategic purposes.[3][4]

Social determinants

The female opposite of a girly girl is a tomboy. The increasing prevalence of girly girls in the early 21st century has been linked to a supposed "post-feminist, post–new man construction of masculinity and femininity in mutually exclusive terms",[5] as opposed to the more blurred gender representations of previous decades.[6]

See also

• Lipstick feminism
• Lipstick lesbian
• Butch and femme
• Effeminacy
• Marianismo
• Masculinity

References

1. Linda Duits, Multi-Girl-Culture (2008) p. 141
2. Duits, p. 136
3. M. O'Sullivan/A. MacPhail, Young People's Voices (2010) p. 37-8
4. Nicholls, Emily (2018-07-24). Negotiating Femininities in the Neoliberal Night-Time Economy: Too Much of a Girl?. Springer. p. 259. ISBN 978-3-319-93308-5.
5. Natasha Walter, Living Dolls:The Return of Sexism (2010) p. 211
6. Adam Phillips, On Flirtation (1994) p. 122-4