How conditional is “girls supporting girls?”
It is no secret that the social media platform TikTok is exceedingly popular. With that popularity comes a fast-moving cycle of trends. However, these trends are not always the most productive.
What has currently taken TikTok’s algorithm for a run is the use of Lil Uzi Vert’s song “Heavy Metal” with the verse “I got these girls and they fightin’ all up and like / And they screamin’ out like, “Pick me,” like, “Pick me” / “Pick me,” like, “Pick me,” like, “Pick me,” like, “Pick me’.” With that verse, TikTok users caption their videos with stereotypical things that “Pick me girls” do.
A pick me girl is a female who seeks male validation by indirectly or directly insinuating that she is “not like the other girls.” Originally, this trend began to poke fun at and call out girls who do these things. While that was already somewhat problematic, to begin with, it has evolved into an even more toxic trend that makes fun of girls who do anything that may result in male attention.
The callouts to pick me girls had originally begun with “Girls who make fun of their friend’s insecurities around guys” to shaming other girls for normal things that most girls take part in. Now, however, girls are being attacked by other girls for the most basic aspects of themselves. Some examples include “girls with names that start or end with the letter a, being short, or for playing sports like cheer or volleyball.”
This trend is riddled with internalized misogyny, and it is quite frankly embarrassing that as a generation we have not moved past the unproductive behavior of tearing other girls down for one’s own entertainment. This trend is especially hypocritical considering the definition of a “pick me girl” is women who tear down other women to make themselves appear more desirable to men.