The Gavel’s Diatribe acts as the satirical medium for short rants over topics ranging from complete triviality to utmost importance.
Am I bunny pretty, mouse pretty, or deer pretty? Do I have high contrast or low contrast? Am I more mob-wife or coquette clean-girl Sunday reset type vibe? Is this outfit giving a downtown girl or more Y2K? Am I more girl-pretty or boy-pretty? Do I have hip dips and American Girl Doll teeth? Do I have strawberry legs and tear stains? Do I have a side-asymmetric nose slant?
My brain is literally melting and becoming mush because I know what all of these mean. The embarrassment of being able to recognize all of the new aesthetic trends that are popular on TikTok is not my proudest accomplishment or use of my time. TikTok brain rot for trends and new insecurities based on “aesthetics” that come in and out by the month is so damaging for anyone just trying to be comfortable in their own skin. It has made me aware of insecurities I never even knew existed that I wish I could erase from my brain.
The way that people describe their insecurities on TikTok reminds me of that scene from Mean Girls where the Plastics are staring at themselves in the mirror and calling out every insecurity they can see. Cady simply cannot understand why they are insecure, and she has to make up her own insecurity to fit in. This is exactly the feeling I have watching TikToks about stupid made-up aesthetics and insecurities that are just another way of being able to categorize yourself.
I was talking to my roommate about these trends—how women feel as if they need a categorization of themselves to feel like they belong in some subgroup of aesthetics. She said, “It’s all external validation, and it’s putting your essence into external subgroups that are supposed to make you feel as if you have meaning or a category you fit into. Nobody needs that; it doesn’t do anything for anyone on a substantive level.” This feeling of forcing yourself to fit in a box that will meet your aesthetic is so ridiculous, and TikTok makes it feel a lot easier to force yourself to conform to a singular aesthetic.
This isn’t anything new, though. Women’s bodies going in and out of style in trend-like fashion has been true forever. It was popular to be curvy in the 50s, and then as soon as the 60s hit, women were told that being thin was the new “in” style. It’s exhausting and disheartening that nothing seems to change, and it becomes even more accessible to be corrupted by TikTok’s idea of what is pretty. Platforms like TikTok have an algorithm-driven nature that reinforces narrow beauty standards by promoting content that aligns with popular trends, making it much harder to avoid content like this.
The importance of putting the phone down and living in the real world is clear. When I look at other people, I don’t think, “They’re bunny pretty, they have American Girl Doll teeth,” and I don’t think anyone else does either.
Short n’ Sweet
