Social Media’s Hot Girl Summer: Attainable or Unrealistic?

By

Jasmine Kelly

on
July 20, 2024

Culture

A ‘hot girl summer’ has recently become the focal point of social media discussions. A quick scroll of TikTok reveals that aspects of a so-called ‘hot girl summer’ include everything from health and wellbeing to relationship guidelines. A general ‘hot girl summer’ list talks about self-care and being your best self, however it also can mention more questionable things like point systems for sending explicit photos and rules against smiling at notifications from boys. Is hot girl summer attainable and positive or harmful and inappropriate?

The essence of the original ‘hot girl summer’ trend is focusing on doing what’s best for yourself. It promotes exercise and healthy eating, but also maintains that every body is a bikini body. Some girls are discovering what health means to them. Sometimes it mean more than just green juice, using a ‘hot girl summer’ mentality to help them conquer their ‘fear food’ or eat tasty food guilt-free. Skincare is often included as a form of self-care: investing in yourself, taking time to care for your body. This extends to haircare with many girls detailing their routines of moisturising skincare, hair oiling and body lotion.

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However, a ‘hot girl summer’ is manifold, girls care not only for their physical health but also for their mental health. Studies show 75% of mental health issues are established before 24 and the highest risk group are young women. As a ‘hot girl summer’ is primarily undertaken by female young adults, these women are taking care of themselves in more ways than one, by meditating and embarking on self-care journeys where they discover what it means to be authentically themselves and not forcing themselves to fit into boxes made of unrealistic societal expectations.

Another aspect of this is shown in its ideas of relationships. While some participants make different guidelines, a lot of girls’ rules come with the attitude of being too good for relationships, but in a positive way. Young women talk about forgetting ex-partners and instead putting their friends first. Ultimately, a ‘hot girl summer’ is about reaffirming girl power, but also looking after yourself, instead of catering to what you think prospective romantic partners might be attracted to.

However, there are times when a ‘hot girl summer’ is taken too far. While it’s a positive self-care trend, there is an issue of the trend reaching negative realms. At its core, a ‘hot girl summer’ is a form of ‘glow-up’ culture. However, constantly wanting to ‘improve’ all the time is driven by a strive for perfection that isn’t always attainable. Aspiring to be like certain role models can be damaging as you won’t become their exact copy. Therefore, I fear this trend will turn harmful if participants set themselves dangerous targets. There is a worry that looking too closely at health and eating habits can cause eating disorder behaviour, as there is a link between social media use and eating disorders. When hot girl summer is taken too seriously, it can be unhealthy and destructive.

A ‘hot girl summer’ can also cause issues when unaware young teens participate. This year, a TikTok video of a 14-year-old girl performing an extensive skincare routine went viral, including using retinol and doing two face masks a day while explaining how she started doing most of these things at 12. Young girls don’t need skincare like this, and this skincare doesn’t act as a form of self-care, instead performed so elaborately in fear of aging. Ultimately, while a ‘hot girl summer’’s self-care acts like skincare and exercise may disguise a fear of getting old, this is imperatively destructive to mental health, especially for when signs of aging do inevitably start to show; it’s a self-care front covering up underlying harm.

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In terms of relationships the hot girl summer attitude of prioritising yourself may appear toxic, as some may assume focusing yourself means not considering others. Multiple TikTok videos show girls’ hot girl summer point systems with points for one-night stands and increased numbers of sexual partners, accompanied by strict rules not to catch feelings and not to sleep with the same person more than twice. This feels cold-hearted and unfair for the partners being treated like throwaways. It’s a single-and-free atmosphere taken to extremes, using point systems at the expensive of other people to calculate how hot of a summer you’ve had. A ‘hot girl summer’ doesn’t mean preaching not caring what people think while simultaneously competing for the highest ‘sexual scores’; focusing on yourself shouldn’t mean you treat potential partners badly or bring others down for lower body counts.

While the ‘hot girl summer’ trend can certainly be controversial, I believe it is good within reason. The true essence of a ‘hot girl summer’ is about putting yourself first and plunging into the pursuit of your best life. When taken too far, it can appear dangerous, however primarily, it is about building confidence by doing things that make you happy and are beneficial. The idea of a ‘hot girl summer’ is subjective, depending on your definition of a hot girl and anyone can achieve it: so, provided that your criteria for a hot girl summer is realistic self-improvement, it can certainly be a positive influence.

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