Girly girl
Girly girl is a term for a girl or woman who chooses to dress and behave in a traditionally feminine style, such as wearing pink, using make-up, using perfume, dressing in skirts, dresses and blouses, and talking about relationships and other activities which are associated with the traditional gender role of a girl.[1]
Though the term is sometimes used as a term of disdain, it can also be used in a more positive way, particularly when exploring one of a range of gender positions.[2] Being a "girly girl" can then be seen as a fluid and partially embodied[clarification needed] position – a form of discourse[clarification needed] taken up, discarded or modified for tactical/strategic ends.[3]
Social determinants
The female opposite of a girly girl is a tomboy. The male counterpart of a girly girl is a "man's man". [citation needed] The increasing prevalence of girly girls in the early 21st century has been linked to the post-feminist, post–new man construction of masculinity and femininity in mutually exclusive terms,[4] as opposed to the more blurred gender representations of previous decades.[5]
See also
References
- ^ Linda Duits, Multi-Girl-Culture (2008) p. 141
- ^ Duits, p. 136
- ^ M. O'Sullivan/A. MacPhail, Young People's Voices (2010) p. 37-8
- ^ Natasha Walter, Living Dolls:The Return of Sexism (2010) p. 211
- ^ Adam Phillips, On Flirtation (1994) p. 122-4