The "Pick-Me Girl" and her Descendants
During my time at uni and throughout my years in the education system, I’ve picked up on common trends in binary stereotypes of girls and boys at school. Obviously, as my peers and I have matured, the nature of these labels has changed, but an underlying current remains: while the identities associated with boys- either harmful or positive- existed on their own, the categories for girl students were often linked to boys and how it affected them. Girls behaved/presented for boys, either to attract or repel them, whereas boys just existed. That isn’t to say that boys were never criticized for their behavior, clothes, or personality, however, in my memory, people didn’t assume they were a performance for girls. One example of this phenomenon is the recently popularized term “pick me girl.” The pick me girl, often attributed to a high school student, wants to be “picked” by her male peers, and therefore will appeal to the male gaze/...