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