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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To hate the vacuousness of some young girls nowadays?

440 replies

CarryOnCharon · 13/05/2024 20:45

I find it so sad. 12 year olds obsessed by beauty brands, TikTok, doing their hair for school, fake tan, ridiculously short school skirts, it all seems so sad. And they are clones. Room in their heads only for brands

i know this is not all of them.

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7
TakemedowntoPotatoCity · 13/05/2024 21:08

Yanbu. It's awful! What's with the really short skirts? I guess maybe we did that too 😶but the fucking skincare and tiktok obsession...so unhealthy. Social media is wrecking young teens mental health(some of them)

5128gap · 13/05/2024 21:08

When I was 13 I was obsessed with very short ra ra skirts, fishnet tights and elbow length gloves. Orange foundation, streaks of pink blusher and wet look lip gloss. Hair fried with sun in and back combed. Evenings were spent reading about how to 'snog that hunky guy' in age inappropriate teen magazines. Im sure 'vacuous' would have been amongst the least offensive judgements made about me at the time.
Yet somehow alongside that, I managed to do enough at school to stay in top sets and eventually went to uni with good grades. I marched with the miners, knitted blankets for people in Ethiopia and helped out at the local care home. You can't judge a girl by the shallow parts you see. You couldn't then and you shouldn't now.

CarryOnCharon · 13/05/2024 21:07

I did the makeup. But was able to comprehend information other than that imparted by TikTok

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CarryOnCharon · 13/05/2024 21:06

AGirlWithAHandOnHerArm · 13/05/2024 20:58

Bloody hell we were exactly the same minus the social media back in the mid 90s. Perms, sun-in, collection 2000 (Blue Mascara)…if we had access to TikTok we would have been all over that like a rash. Now some of my friends are solicitors and run their own business’s…..this thread is quite judgmental.

It is judgemental

I find it depressing

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Dahliasinallotment · 13/05/2024 21:06

I was 12 in 1986 and wore the trifecta of purple mascara, eye liner, and eye shadow. I had to lie down to zip my jeans up. Our jeans had zips at the ankle so we could get them over our heels.

I had a fringe that was inches high and an unhealthy relationship with aerosol hair spray. I moped endlessly to Depeche Mode (that may have come later).

I am now an enormously sensible grown up. I can’t even manage Botox.

the kids will be fine. Lucky them to have stretchy jeans, they can breathe.

Foxblue · 13/05/2024 21:05

So funny how it always seems that the things that are considered silly and vacuous and shallow are hobbies and interests popular with girls.
So weird, that.

Exhibit A:

Supporting a football team and getting angry, sad, overexcited over things that happen with that team
= normal

Being a fan of a pop singer or band and getting angry, sad, overexcited over things that happen with them
= silly

Emotionalsupporthamster · 13/05/2024 21:05

Ach I dunno, I remember being 12 and plastering on foundation on the school bus so my mum didn’t know I was wearing it to school. They’re just better at it now because of YouTube etc. Madness that they can get the money to be obsessed with brands though when we used to save up for Rimmel and Collection 2000.

CarryOnCharon · 13/05/2024 21:04

Sausagenbacon · 13/05/2024 21:02

yes, but....what I really like is when I go to the gym, there are a lot of young women weight training, doing it for themselves, with no aggravation from the men either.
When I was their age women just didn't do this. I find it very encouraging

Actually, yes, this trend is great

When I was young skinny was god. I love the fit trend

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CarryOnCharon · 13/05/2024 21:03

saltinesandcoffeecups · 13/05/2024 20:56

Yes it was.

Really not. Now the brands they want are premium expensive. And also things like “peach fuzz removers”

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Sausagenbacon · 13/05/2024 21:02

yes, but....what I really like is when I go to the gym, there are a lot of young women weight training, doing it for themselves, with no aggravation from the men either.
When I was their age women just didn't do this. I find it very encouraging

Dollenganger333 · 13/05/2024 21:01

AGirlWithAHandOnHerArm · 13/05/2024 20:58

Bloody hell we were exactly the same minus the social media back in the mid 90s. Perms, sun-in, collection 2000 (Blue Mascara)…if we had access to TikTok we would have been all over that like a rash. Now some of my friends are solicitors and run their own business’s…..this thread is quite judgmental.

Agreed

CarryOnCharon · 13/05/2024 21:01

ilovesooty · 13/05/2024 21:00

Kicky ball? Patronising.

And I'm much more interested in football than make up.

I like both

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AGirlWithAHandOnHerArm · 13/05/2024 21:01

Out of interest OP, do you have a 12 year old daughter??

ilovesooty · 13/05/2024 21:00

Screamingabdabz · 13/05/2024 20:51

Lots of grown adult men are endlessly obsessed with kicky ball and their dicks. But let’s pick on 12 year old girls eh?

Kicky ball? Patronising.

And I'm much more interested in football than make up.

Dollenganger333 · 13/05/2024 21:00

My girls aren't like this at all.

Saschka · 13/05/2024 21:00

CarryOnCharon · 13/05/2024 20:54

No. I was very into make up in the 80s. But it was about fun and experimenting, not brands and confirming

Depended a lot on your social group! Plenty of them in my school, if you had the wrong flavour body shop lip tint you were nothing Grin

Mean Girls came out in 2004, Clueless in 1995. Both showed vacuous, brand-obsessed over-groomed teenage girls. And have you forgotten Paris Hilton already?

Allywill · 13/05/2024 20:59

My mum is 81. She was asked to leave a country pub in 1962 for wearing a skirt that was “indecent”. OK she wasn’t 12 but honestly girls and short skirts - nothing new.

accentdusoleil · 13/05/2024 20:58

How do you know they are vacuous ? Maybe they like makeup and are highly intelligent ?

Chickychoccyegg · 13/05/2024 20:58

Yip, it's horrible, I have a 12 year old exactly like this, she saves her pocket money/birthday money and buys expensive products that are "trending on tiktok" , all very well saying parent your child and don't allow make up and fake tan, which I mostly agree with, but when there's various special events in school and in her hobbies ,where literally everyone does fake tan and make up, then it's just not worth the arguments and tears , though I try to limit both to a very light covering.
Her friends mums are a lot more chilled about all this than me, which also makes it difficult.
She certainly has a huge supply of skin care, hair care, make up, all designer brands and all the girls in her class are the same, I've taken them shopping and the friends think nothing of spending £50+ on 1 product, much more than I'd be paying.

AGirlWithAHandOnHerArm · 13/05/2024 20:58

Bloody hell we were exactly the same minus the social media back in the mid 90s. Perms, sun-in, collection 2000 (Blue Mascara)…if we had access to TikTok we would have been all over that like a rash. Now some of my friends are solicitors and run their own business’s…..this thread is quite judgmental.

Crowgirl · 13/05/2024 20:56

I have to say some of the most intelligent and academic women I know spent our childhood obsessed with sweet valley high and Cher from clueless.

misssunshine4040 · 13/05/2024 20:56

I will happily admit I was like this as a teen 30 years go.
Skirt rolled up once I was out of my parents eye shot and make up and hair done.
It was fun! I had no money for big brands but the beauty industry wasn't as big or accessible as it is now.

Most other teen girls were the same, all fun, nothing wrong with it !

saltinesandcoffeecups · 13/05/2024 20:56

CarryOnCharon · 13/05/2024 20:54

No. I was very into make up in the 80s. But it was about fun and experimenting, not brands and confirming

Yes it was.

CarryOnCharon · 13/05/2024 20:55

Youcannotbeseriousreally · 13/05/2024 20:52

But is it actually their fault they are swept along or could their parent do better are creating appropriate boundaries ?

Agreed

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CarryOnCharon · 13/05/2024 20:54

*conformity

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