The Summer of Girlhood: A Reflection
Written and Graphic By Rachael Mueller
This summer was a celebration of femininity. Whether you were exchanging friendship bracelets and compliments at the “Eras Tour,” or tearing up in the back of the theater watching the “Barbie” movie, feminine joy was in the air. Recent events with a majority of female fans have often been viewed as frivolous; however, the Eras Tour and the Barbie movie have broken revenue and attendance records this summer. Above all, the Barbie movie and the Eras Tour sparked trends of women sharing their strong feelings of sisterhood with one another. The culture surrounding these events has been a truly unifying experience.
As women, we don’t often see media that is unironically feminine. Femininity is often the butt of the joke or considered silly. In films such as “Legally Blonde” and “Miss Congeniality” hyperfeminine characters are consistently not taken seriously and mocked for their femininity by others in the movie. Instead, this summer we saw women who were smart, driven, and powerful without discarding their femininity. We bonded over these exciting events and allowed ourselves to tap into our femininity without shame. We experienced a sense of community that has never been stronger. This summer, we felt a cultural shift from, “I’m not like other girls,” to “I’m just like other girls.”
The North American leg of the Eras Tour kicked off in March of 2023 and has already been named a record-breaking tour. Ticketmaster confirmed that, on the first day of sales, over 2 million tickets were sold, more than any artist on a single day. Fans waited anxiously, some for hours at a time, for their chance to see Taylor Swift. Preparing for the tour began long before the night of the show; outfits were handmade, arms were full of friendship bracelets, and hotels were booked. Everywhere you looked on the Internet, you were faced with news of surprise songs, special guests, and chants for designated parts of the show. The atmosphere at the show was a welcoming, joyful celebration. Fans brought goodie bags filled with friendship bracelets, stickers, and temporary tattoos to hand out to each other while waiting for the show to start. All around, people shouted compliments and bonded over matching outfits. It was incredibly healing to attend an event that was so unabashedly girly.
Later in the summer, we were blessed with the “Barbie” movie. The movie released on July 21st and was an immediate hit. It had the largest global opening for a female-directed movie in history and became the most successful global and domestic release in Warner Bros. history. Director Greta Gerwig became the first solo female director to have a movie reach the billion-dollar mark.
In a world where many girls have to grow up too soon, “Barbie” was a nostalgic rush of catharsis. The movie’s depiction of the female experience was raw but still maintained a whimsical feeling. In the movie, Gloria, played by America Ferrera, gives a monologue about the conflicting expectations of womanhood. She ends this monologue by saying, “I'm just so tired of watching myself and every single other woman tie herself into knots so that people will like us.” As women, we are constantly aware of the pressures that have always been put upon us. We are taught to look a certain way, but we must not be vain. We have been taught to make ourselves small, quiet, and useful. We are told to be grateful all the time. There are too many contradictions. In a world where women are often pitted against each other, we are now learning to not only have patience with ourselves, but with other women in our lives. There is a shared experience as women that binds us together and “Barbie” showed that.
The “Barbie” movie sparked trends where women shared their charged feelings of sisterhood with one another. The culture surrounding the movie was a unifying experience. Following the movie’s release, trends began on TikTok featuring Billie Eilish’s song from the movie, “What Was I Made For?”. The words “Take my hand, close your eyes, now feel” accompanied Eilish’s song as women all over TikTok shared their experience of girlhood through sentimental video montages.
This summer, we experienced a culture of sisterhood unlike any we’ve seen before. Both the Barbie movie and the Eras Tour have allowed people everywhere to be freely feminine without judgment or mockery in a community of acceptance and empathy. The cultural impact and commercial success of these two events have only further proved the importance of women's stories being told. This blatant celebration of femininity as a collective group is a much-needed breath of fresh air.