There's a collective fascination with girlhood today, one that is spewing weekly TikTok trends and elsewhere, needling conversations about femininity and identity. Exacerbated by the unparalleled success of Greta Gerwig's Barbie, girls and their stories are really at the crux of media and pop-culture consumption this summer.
So it's no surprise that a new blog, dedicated to the highs and lows of being a girl, has gone viral on TikTok. Aptly entitled "Girlhood," the site was founded this month by Mia Sugimoto and Sophia Rundle. Painted in shades of bubblegum pink and purple, the Tumblr-esque site is described by the founders as an "organization encouraging teenagers to share their stories and find the support they need."
At its core, the site's mission is about empowerment through storytelling. Sugimoto and Rundle publish articles and pieces of advice, but readers can submit their own tales, which are posted on a dedicated page. One published piece, for example, explains a story about a toxic friendship. Another post details a girl whose beautiful friend gets attention from boys — but she herself doesn't: "Boys don’t look at me the way they look at her and I just don’t understand what am I doing wrong."
Credit: TikTok / gir1hood.The writing is honest, conversational; some pieces read like anonymous diary entries and others sound like the hushed murmurings between sisters. On TikTok, the "Girlhood" page has nearly 50,000 followers. On the site's Instagram page, the founders shared that they've had thousands of volunteer applications and advice submissions. Their bio states their simple motive: "helping ? all over the ?."
"Girlhood" and its almost instantaneous popularity is in tandem with the burgeoning conversations about what it's like to be a girl growing up in the age of Instagram. The accepted messiness of teenage years is no longer just that. Research is showing that girls today are in a mental health crisis. According to data released by federal researchers in February 2023, nearly 1 in 3 high school girls reported considering suicide, and nearly 6 in 10 girls reported feeling sad and hopeless to the point of giving up on regular activities.
It's almost as if TikTok teens are taking steps of their own, out of necessity. The rise of girl culture online speaks volumes. And the question of what further, more systemic, support could look like arises.
For Sugimoto and Rundle, "Girlhood" is a community of kindness and support, sharing stories that other girls can relate to, without questions or judgement. As Rundle's bio reads: "I look forward to helping girls learn, grow and navigate the various troubles of girlhood."
