I've got to say, my first reaction to Shit Girls Say was a laugh. I probably gave it a louder chuckle than I give most Twitter trends or YouTube videos. You see, I have a sense of humor. I understand the video wasn't meant to be malicious, and I understand that if you take Shit Girls Say at face value, then it can be pretty funny. However, if you look past the surface of the Internet's latest fad, there are a few harsh stereotypes that don't deserve an LOL.
These stupid one-liners that are apparently "what girls say" portray women as mindless idiots who are both annoying and repetitive.
Most, if not all, of the things tweeted by the Shit Girls Say twitter account make girls seem like complete airheads, posting things such as, "First of all, ew," and, "I don't like that, do I?" As a girl who speaks with other girls on a regular basis, I can attest that we say more than just substance-lacking comments.
In the first video made to accompany the Twitter account, our "girl," who is played by Shit Girls Say co-creator Graydon Sheppard, asks how to use computer. Not only does it display women as unintelligent, but it also plays on the stereotype that girls don't know how to use technology. It's 2012. Most girls in their 20s and 30s have grown up in the golden age of the technology - and we know how to use it. After all, how else would we shop online?
In the third video of the series, Sheppard, again dressed in drag, and actress Juliette Lewis spend 45 seconds saying "You're the best." They then spend the remaining minute of the video babbling nonsense at each other. Basically, after only listening to irritating and redundant compliments, all that is said is unintelligible. Is this really how the two men who came up with Shit Girls Say see women?
My question is this: If you love women, and women helped you create this phenomena, why make videos portraying us in negative stereotypes? Women are still battling to gain equal grounds with men in the social area; stereotyping us as airheads is only pushing us back. Is that really something to laugh about?
Posts in The F Bomb appears on Wednesdays.
A screen shot from "Shit Girls Say."
