From birth, young girls are pressured into conforming to a societal standard of “pretty.” The eternally swinging, get-thinner, get-thicker pendulum pushes girls into perpetual bodily insecurity for their entire lives. It is easy to feel like you will never catch up to the trends you are racing towards, especially because they seem to flip completely upside down with each passing day. Girls and women who manage to keep up and distinguish themselves as “pretty” in the eyes of society are now being demeaned through the trending concept of “pretty girl humor.”
“Pretty Girl Humor”
The phrase refers to an underwhelming sense of humor that is associated with conventionally attractive people who can get away with a more basic comedic style. While many may be able to recognize a social pattern caused by the very real prevalence of pretty privilege in American culture, the assumption of character based on looks is an extremely dangerous one. By creating this trend, we are not only normalizing the shaming of women, but we are also creating a negative personality stereotype for the group that all women are pressured into by media and social norms.
Pretty Privilege
In a society that values looks above all else, it is no wonder that more conventionally attractive people have an easier time socially. Of course, looks aren’t everything, but they certainly boost popularity especially among younger people. This trend feeds into the “pretty girl humor” phenomenon. The implication is that, many times, those who are less stereotypically attractive tend toward nerdier or more complex senses of humor as a social booster, though this is just as harmful of a generalization to make.
The Lorax Costume Discourse
The “pretty girl humor” trend took off recently as a trend began for girls to put on an orange morph suit and yellow mustache and dress as the Lorax either for Halloween or just for fun and post it on social media. For some reason, this trend became an excuse to shame women for being basic and unfunny. These girls were anything but trying to come across as conventionally pretty, and it’s pretty difficult to tell what someone looks like when they are wearing giant, stick-on yellow eyebrows.
Lockdown Flashbacks
Many girls are jokingly taking back the “pretty girl humor” trend by posting their transitions from lockdown to now. Back when we all went stir-crazy locked in our rooms for months, the internet looked much different than it does now. Cosplay ran rampant, and the most popular trends of the era are considered unbelievably cringe now. Everyone cut their hair short, wore bright colors and oversaturated all their photos upon editing them. Many now-pretty girls are undercover lockdown nerds, and this reclaimed trend shows that people’s looks can change dramatically from year to year, and that is substantial enough evidence that you cannot infer someone’s personality or experiences based on looks alone.
The accusation of “pretty girl humor” has loosened drastically in definition, and is now just another way to ensure that women cannot rest until they somehow gain enough mutually exclusive personality and humor to fit in. Humor is just as subjective as looks, and trying to confine either into sweeping generalizations is a danger to individuality.
Let us know your thoughts about this trend @VALLEYmag on Instagram!
