On my bedside desk, you may at the moment discover a calendar my aunt designed(Opens in a brand new window) and gifted me for Christmas, a pink claw clip, a candle, a tiny empty purple bowl, a vivid blue coatcheck declare ticket, a free bank card, one unfinished e book, a pencil, a pen, and a small lamp precariously stacked on two notebooks and two books. On TikTok, this scene would reveal one thing profound about my womanhood.
Again in August, TikTokker @starlingblue(Opens in a brand new window) uploaded a fan edit to Hozier’s “Would That I.” The video begins with a clip from Anne with an E the place a personality says, “oh how I like being a lady,” and is adopted by a montage of beloved feminine characters together with Jo March in Little Girls, Sam of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and Penny Lane from Nearly Well-known.
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The mix of the Anne with an E quote and “Would That I” shortly grew to become the go-to sound for movies about womanhood. It has been used over 155,000 instances. When it first took off on the platform, creators used it to have fun the intricacies of womanhood and to sarcastically share the pitfalls of being a lady. In a single video @jamec0zzie(Opens in a brand new window) lists issues she loves about womanhood, together with sapphic love, mornings in mattress after sleepovers, unstated solidarity, and going to the toilet in huge teams. On the extra morbid facet, @brennalina(Opens in a brand new window) posted a video of herself leaving a hair in an Uber with the caption, “Ever since a lady on TikTok stated she leaves [sic] hair and fingerprints in all her Ubers.” That video garnered over 4 million likes.
The sound was additionally utilized to have fun feminine creators(Opens in a brand new window) and have become a staple sound for speaking about no matter is trending amongst ladies on TikTok, for instance @harrysguccidress(Opens in a brand new window) posted a video of Weight loss plan Coke, hen Caesar salad, and a facet of fries, when that mixture of meals blew up on the platform. It acquired over 1.4 million likes.
However as is the plight of most TikTok sounds, it is lately devolved into consumerism. What was as soon as a instrument to debate womanhood, though superficially, is now the the soundtrack to ladies exhibiting off their nightstands. Most of those movies are captioned one thing like, “heard we’re exhibiting our nightstands of their true type,” after which they pan to their nightstand plagued by fashionable merchandise.
One creator @drag0nballsno_z(Opens in a brand new window)‘s bedside desk options faux flowers, Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino, plenty of necklaces, and a pair of mittens. One other creator, @jeanbean2780(Opens in a brand new window)‘s, has six candles, a fuzzy coaster, flowers, and a few hair clips on hers. Whereas there’s an comprehensible fascination with seeing one thing as non-public as a bedside desk — and most of the ladies posting these movies have very cute set-ups —the discrepancy between “oh, how I like being a lady” and a desk of merchandise is stark. The pattern had me side-eying my very own nightstand, and critically analyzing if a bit of furnishings designed for comfort is consultant of who I’m. As soon as once more, this pattern introduced the will to carry out for TikTok into my non-public house.
Oh how I like studying, candles, mittens, and necklaces.
Credit score: TikTok / @jeanbean2780, @drag0nballsno_z
Nightstand movies are one other approach ladies on TikTok are inspired to outline themselves by means of their stuff and to prepare their lives into extremely readable aesthetics.
And it does not finish with nightstands. TikTok can also be locked in a heated debate over the state of a lady’s messy room. Creator @latenightwar(Opens in a brand new window) sparked this dialog by posting a really humorous video during which she says, “When a lady’s room is messy it is Sofia Coppola. It is ‘Hell Is a Teenage Lady.’ It is Lindsey Lohan in an early 2000s film. It is indie. It is scorching.” Just like the “oh, how I like being a lady” sound, ladies are posting movies of their artfully messy bedside tables and rooms to the satirical clip.
Solely time will inform what hyper-specific a part of your life TikTok would require to suit your aesthetic subsequent.
