Linking the g(URL)

by Molly Soda

A screen showing a close up of a big pink flower and text in a checklist that reads:

My name is Mouchette
I live in Amsterdam
I am nearly 13 years old
I am an artist
Le site existe aussi en Francais
My next mood is... (reload) — Martine Neddam, Mouchette, 1996-ongoing

Girl dinner, hot girl walk, that girl, clean girl, girl boss, girl math, girl blog, hot girl summer, pick me girl, christian girl autumn, vsco girl, e-girl, good girl, bad girl, sad girl, manic pixie dream girl, i’m just a girl, girl’s girl, girl power, rat girl, feral girl, gorgeous gorgeous girls love soup, it girl, cam girl, for the girls, girl code, horse girl, gamer girl, girlypop, tomato girl, olive girl, red onion girl, girl next door, riot grrrl, gremlin girl, girl shopping, daddy’s girl, dream girl, babygirl, girl rot, girl blunt, fangirl, go piss girl, girl pretty, the girl reading this…

As a culture, we’ve discussed the girlification of the web ad nauseam: in think-pieces, blog posts, trend forecasts, and Twitter threads. 2023 was coined “The Year of the Girl” thanks to the popularity of girl-centric terminology (girl dinner, hot girl walks), the ubiquity of bows (not just in fashion but everywhere you could imagine), and the commercial success of the Barbie movie. In the wake of this heightened Girl awareness, there have been well-intentioned but ultimately misguided attempts to define “girlhood” online. These definitions are predicated on the opposition between girlhood and womanhood. Why do all these grown women want to be girls? Who gets to be a girl? When does one stop being a girl? Much of the discourse has framed this sudden interest in girlishness as a failing, or as a resistance to the oppressive Girlboss (the term Girl still applies here), or as a fear of aging.

There is no distinction between woman and Girl online. We must throw out any binary thinking. Online, we are all Girls. Girl exists as a condition rather than a fixed gender or age. “Girl” is a valuable marketing term in the same way that “authenticity” is. It is performed, refined, but never able to be perfected—hoisted upon us and impossible to embody.

We’ve reached peak Girl. By the time this syllabus reaches you, you’re likely sick of it. The culture has turned against it. The Girl backlash has begun.

“Is there a writer on board??? QUICK we need an essay about the commodification of girlhood on tiktok!!!!” –@glamdemon2004

A woman dances cheekily in her bedroom. — Ann Hirsch, Scandalishious, 2009

Girls have been on the Internet all along—using its tools, participating in it, shaping it, all while being revered and reviled for it. Girl discourse-ification turned Girl backlash is part of the natural progression. As someone who has been swimming in the deep end of Girl Internet for some time now, I’ve seen these cycles go in and out of style. I’ve watched the Girlboss climb the ranks, only to be demoted years later. In true Sad Girl fashion, I’ve uploaded videos of myself crying in front of my webcam. I survived Selfie Feminism. Where were you when Pantone named millennial pink the color of the year in 2016? Or when we decided that some women’s consumption habits were bad and referred to them as basic? We still do that, we just continue to change the terms. Every wave and iteration of Girl has passed through me since I started being a girl online 20 years ago.

“When did it become so deeply embarrassing to be a woman?” –Maya Man, Fake It Til You Make It

A woman plasters herself against a store window, looking at shoes. — Kelly, Shoes, 2007

GIRL MATH

“Girls are everywhere and nowhere; fetishized but neglected; in our faces yet disappearing from view.” –Heather Warren-Crow, Girlhood and the Plastic Image

The following texts are foundational to considering the networked Girl:

The four texts included here all establish the Girl as a concept: an advertisement (Tiqqun); a vessel for someone else’s desires (Long Chu); a mutable media object (Warren-Crow); a well-constructed performance (Walsh).

I’ve made a point to include pre-Internet works throughout this syllabus in order to draw connections and round out the more contemporary digital references. You’ll find artworks, writing, films, and search terms of note that have been crucial to my thinking. This list is neither definitive nor exhaustive. It is a work in progress, in a constant state of becoming—much like the girl herself—and it will take a lifetime of fine-tuning.

A towel hangs out of a girl's mouth as she sits on the bus, a bored expression on her face. — Adrian Piper, Catalysis IV, 1971

GIRL DINNER

“I was given a saucer and I was told it was because I was smaller and more petite than everyone else—not because it was cheaper.” –Patty Chang, Melons (At a Loss)

★ Martha Rosler, Semiotics of the Kitchen, 1975
★ Natacha Stolz, Interior Semiotics, 2010
★ Patty Chang, Melons (At a Loss), 1998
★ Adrian Piper, Catalysis, 1970–73 (particularly I, IV, V, VII)
★ 2girls1bottl3 (read interview)
★ YouTube Search: What I Eat in a Day

Two images of a woman walking, and a swirl of multi-colored silhouettes of that same woman cover the surrounding screen. — Maya Man, can I go where you go?, 2021

HOT GIRL WALK

The girl doesn’t walk, she dances forever on our screens. She loops long after we’ve scrolled past or closed the tab.

★ Hans Christian Andersen, The Red Shoes, 1845
★ Kelly, Shoes, 2007
★ Olia Lialina, Animated Gif Model, 2005-2013
★ See also: Real Dancing Girl
★ Petra Cortright, Niki, Lucy, Lola, Viola, 2015
★ Maya Man, can I go where you go?, 2021
★ See also: (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes, 2024
★ Auriea Harvey & Michaël Samyn, The Path, 2009
★ Dancing on TikTok (my saved videos)

A woman spills a bucket full of water out onto steps outside a home. — Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Washing/Tracks/Maintenance: Outside, 1973

CLEAN GIRL

“Labor that is acceptable, or even fetishized, is labor that can be attributed to more wholesome goals of self-improvement. It must pass as ‘natural.’” –Liz Barr, Body Works

★ Chantal Akerman, Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, 1975
★ YouTube Search: My Morning Routine
★ Silvia Federici, Wages Against Housework, 1974
★ Liz Barr, Body Works, 2016
★ YouTube Search: Glow Up Vlog
★ Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Manifesto! for Maintenance Art, 1969