‘Pretty Girl Humour’, The New Way to Police Women

If you’ve been on TikTok in the last few months, you may have seen the term ‘Pretty Girl

Humour’ floating around.

To put it simply, ‘Pretty Girl Humour’ refers to a type of humour that is considered to be

overused and inauthentic, and therefore unfunny.

Some may chalk it down to a harmless trend, others may justify their posts because

someone under the so-called ‘pretty girl’ sub-type bullied them in the past. Though I can

understand certain justifications, the trend feels like a mockery of a whole demographic of

women, which bleeds into the territory of re-packaged misogyny.

Not only are we seeing the perpetuation of the beauty standard through the choice to use

the term ‘pretty’, but a divide is actively being created as a result. It’s demeaning for both the

‘pretty girls’ who are told they lack humour, and the girls with humour who aren’t deemed

pretty enough.

The trend isn’t surprising by any means, every few weeks on social media, and especially on

TikTok, a new way to criticise women is discovered. This is seen more recently with the

‘young ho’s cook everything on high’ trend, which pokes fun at younger women who tend to

prioritise efficiency when it comes to domestic tasks.

However, just because it is not shocking, doesn’t mean it isn't offensive. Both online and

offline women are constantly chastised, every facet of our being is picked apart, even our

Humour.

Worse yet, it is often other women who use the term; self proclaimed niche girls who want to

distance themselves from what is popular. It's a resurgence of pick-me-ism.

Of course there’s nothing wrong with having niche interests, I do, and my humour is

undoubtedly influenced by such, but there is a dangerously thin line between wanting to

deviate from the mainstream and being ‘not like other girls’ and many are tipping over the

side of the latter.

Truly, I don’t understand why people want to distance themselves from other women. It’s

okay to like what is popular and be basic sometimes. People may cry about the lack of

authenticity behind it, or how ‘popular’/‘pretty women’ are just carbon-copies of each other,

but being different simply because you can’t stand the idea of being like others, rather than

because that is who you are and what you like, is arguably not authentic at all.

If you have to say that you are esoteric, chances are you are not. And that’s okay.

Instead of running to judge other women for what they find enjoyment in, or what they find

funny, we should just be ourselves, like what we like because we like it. It doesn’t matter if

that makes you weird, or popular or basic or unique. Instead of trying to curate an image of

niche-ness, and bashing those who aren’t, you should start indulging in what you actually

enjoy, because that is what matters the most.

Written by, La’Keesha Stewart.