“Jennifer Lawrence And The History Of Cool Girls”
“Cool Girls don’t have the hang-ups of normal girls: They don’t get bogged down by the patriarchy, or worrying about their weight. They’re basically dudes masquerading in beautiful women’s bodies, reaping the privileges of both. But let’s be clear: It’s a performance. It might not be a conscious one, but it’s the way our society implicitly instructs young women on how to be awesome: Be chill and don’t be a downer, act like a dude but look like a supermodel.”
Honestly, you only really need to read the Jennifer Lawrence bit at the top — the rest doesn’t add too much — but the idea of the ‘cool girl’ and the ‘not caring what anyone thinks’ sort of construct feels very resonant to the absurd expectations for people. (not that I will ever stop adoring Jennifer Lawrence). There is also the ‘cool Black person’ who doesn’t mind when their friends really, really want to say the n-word in songs, or the ‘cool Jewish person’ who doesn’t mind jokes about how big their nose is, or the ‘cool Southern person’ who doesn’t mind redneck/hillbilly imitations.
It’s all a construct created by people with more power who don’t want to be called out on their behavior, but also don’t want to feel constricted in who they can be friends with or be themselves around.
I hope to someday live in a world where we stop asking each other to ‘be cool’.
Further reading: “The ‘Cool Girl’ Is Not Fiction, But a Phase”
(credit to SC, so long ago that it’s creepy I still remember)
