Do bloggers make good girls look cool?
Thursday, July 12, 2018
Jacket - Milk and Honey (Myer)
Zoella Sugg knows how to make good girls look cool.
The popular YouTuber, blogger, and author is the poster child for a legion of influencers who know to celebrate being a "good girl". She doesn't drink, smoke, or do drugs and swaps wild nights out for a stay-at-home evening in her elegantly decorated home. It doesn't hurt that she's beautiful in a girl-next-door way and super successful. The wide-eyed beauty is what every mother hopes and dreams for her teenager.
This is especially true in a world where most pop sensations and celebrities are highly sexualised and not exactly the role models we may be wanting for young kids. When Kim Kardashian promotes hunger suppressant lollipops to her legion of young fans, bloggers like Zoella are certainly a breath of fresh air. She's living example that good girls can have a tonne of fun too.
There's certainly been a huge shift in recent years from finding "heroine chic" to be the epitome "cool", to now aspiring and celebrating a healthy and clean lifestyle. And this is in many ways owing to bloggers turning vegetarian/vegan, practicing yoga, or promoting other clean lifestyle habits.
Sure, as the naysayers will argue, blogging about beauty and fashion can be dangerous and there are times where bloggers can preach about topics they don't know a whole lot about. But this is in many ways similar to the influence of Hollywood celebrities. While celebrities are certainly good in their craft, they're not always ideal role models. Plus, they're often limited to the craft. Is it fair to expect an actor to be fully aware about politics or religion or science when that's not the reason for their public life?
Teenage life is a volatile and sensitive stage for kids, especially for girls. There's an insurmountable amount of peer pressure to do "risky" things, solely for acceptance. It's comforting knowing that some such teenager out there can seek solace in the "clean and successful" mould of female celebrities out there. If a 14-year-old girl can look up to Aimee Song who doesn't drink or smoke or do drugs and find a way out of peer pressure, then that should be applauded.
As the only vegetarian girl in my grade growing up at a time when girls inevitably start worrying about their physique, diet and curves, I wish Gary Pepper, a hugely successful blogger and recently turned vegan, existed.
Following bloggers and aspiring to be like them can definitely be a form of escapism for some, and for some other, it can lead to unhealthy comparisons and constantly feeling like you're not enough. But, in high school, life can be pretty insular and if you’re part of the cool brigade or part of any brigade for that matter, things can be fine. But god forbid if you’re not, things can be very lonely. Those awkward, clumsy and angst-ridden puberty years leave us at our most vulnerable, emotional and self conscious selves. At such a time, what young people need to know is that this too will pass and there's a world out there after high school which is full of possibilities and with zero baggage from school. With lifestyle bloggers opening up their lives to us, inviting you into their homes and daily schedules, (even if they are extremely curated), teenagers can see that those horrid years will pass soon enough and adulthood certainly has its perks.
14 comments
Being 14 I feel that I have a very strong connection to this post! In previous generations young children may have said their role models were celebrities, super hero's, or famous actors, but for me it is in turn different. The people who I have looked up to were all bloggers and influencers, people who were taking their knowledge and sharing it with the world, trying to inspire people to do good with their life, how to lead a healthy lifestyle, how to be more present in the moment, how to face your fears, etc. It's these people who inspired me to start a blog of my own and want to do the same. I was so greatly impacted by what they were sharing that I felt it was only right to now stand up for things that are important to me and that I am passionate about and share them with the world. Beautiful, thoughtful, and very powerful post dear! xx
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You make so many good points here, but sadly I feel like peer pressure is far too strong these days. I'd like to think tweens could look past all the glitz and glamour portrayed out there (bloggers and influencers are notorious for this) and "know" how it's simply curated and not entirely the whole truth but I feel like they just can't. Maybe it's an age thing but I feel like this persona we've put out there for the "adult" world is just giving them false expectations. No you don't automatically turn 19 and find yourself travelling the world an staying in 5 star luxury. For a small few, sure but the ones who really are impressionable, no. I do agree about the "good girl" role model. Promoting healthy living is definitely wonderful. I grew up in a time where Hollywood was all about keg parties and cheerleaders hahaha!
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daringcoco.com
humm this is a lot to talk about. Nice write up
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Such a good text and post. Thanks for sharing.
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I haven't really kept up with Zoella, but she definitely sounds like a good role model for her younger audience. I'm more familiar with Aimee Song and I agree - she's a refreshing role model that makes good girls look cool. Or at least, normalizes it. As someone who doesn't drink or do drugs, it helps makes me feel not so weird sometimes.
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I can say that bloggers make good influencers when it comes to dressing up especially right now that we have an emerging era.
ReplyDeleteMuch Love,
Jane | The Bandwagon Chic
I think the wonderful thing about blogging is that we get to make our voices heard. If you're a "good" girl, you have the space to share your story and make it look cool! If you're a "bad" girl, you have the same ability to do so! However, I do think that blogging is especially amazing for "good" girls, because that image isn't as trendy in the mainstream, and so we really get the chance to show who we are :) -Audrey | Brunch at Audrey's
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I did always find it interesting growing up that a lot of girls in the blogging world didn't drink or could be considered "good" girls - although that's not to imply that people who do drink are "bad". I don't drink, smoke or do drugs, and I never have, and I found that because I was blogging from a really young age it was a nice way to meet people who were similar to me that I couldn't necessarily find in real life. That was well before the days of influencers, and I'm sure with Instagram around these days the social pressure on teenagers must be 10 x what it used to be, but having role models and people to look up to who are much closer to just being "normal" people (as opposed to celebrities) would be a big help. Even if it's hard to be like them, they at least have more realistic lives and seem more approachable than celebrities ever did, and they often use their platform to talk about their struggles and the things that make them human, which is really important to hear when you're a teenager struggling to navigate the world around you.
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Sara's City
Great topic to cover. It definitely gets you thinking about a lot!
ReplyDeleteI think it's nice to look up to someone, but not be obsessed over them as you don't fully know them on their day to day life.
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I've never seen anyone talk about bloggers from this perspective before, but I love it and totally agree with everything you've written! Although I don't follow Zoella, I can see how she has such a positive influence on the younger generation. Especially as she is so open about her anxiety, which is a huge help to teenagers who may feel alone if she hadn't come out about it. I wish there were more people in the public eye like her because I feel like celebrities who are sexualised give young girls the wrong idea and influence them to dress in a certain way and act in a certain way which they shouldn't feel they have to xx
ReplyDeletehttps://www.flolavita.co.uk/2018/07/a-simple-guide-to-ridding-your-skin.html
Great points as always, I think we need to remember that what bloggers post is just a fraction of their actual life and usually the filtered, happy part. So that's not beat ourselves up by comparing our lows to their highs.
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