*This story was originally published in the December 2021 print edition of “The Campanile.”

As we leave summer and its trends behind, a familiar season is upon us: Christian Girl Autumn. It’s time to pull your sweaters, infinity scarves, bible and boots out of storage, because the weather is finally hitting below 60°.

For those that are inexplicably unaware, Christian Girl Autumn is the perennial aesthetic that awakens from hibernation through comfy fall fashion, trendy instagram posts, and the coveted pumpkin spice latte. 

Seems innocent enough, right? Well, it seems that the popularity has led Christian Girl Autumn enjoyers to receive a volley of insults for following trends, and being “basic” or “cringe worthy.” 

Sound familiar? It may be because we’ve seen this pattern before with many trends, especially those popular among young women. Stereotypes like the Valley Girl, VSCO girl, and E-Girl all began as simple aesthetics, but devolved to borderline insults against the girls that enjoyed them.

Think back to One Direction and the Twilight saga, or even to The Beatles in their prime. With fan bases made primarily of teen girls, all of them were discredited, mocked, and seen as a joke. People refused to take them seriously, because teenage girls could NEVER have good taste in ANYTHING.

 I’ve had enough of this vicious and destructive culture. Why are girls invalidated for being basic? And when girls aren’t basic, they’re invalidated for being a “try-hard” or a “pick-me”? Most importantly, why have we as a society normalized the hatred of happy teenage girls?

According to another opinion piece posted on the University of Minnesota’s Women’s Center blog, “A big part of this stems from the belief that women aren’t being genuine in their interests. Part of this stems from the ever present notion that women exist only in reaction to men, that everything they do is actually calculated towards getting male attention rather than for themselves.” 

Girls deserve to be happy without ridicule. Girls deserve to listen to any music they want, wear any clothes they want, and be obsessed with what they want, without ridicule. We shouldn’t live to try and meet literally impossible societal standards, but instead to enjoy living.

 So, it’s time to put on our UGGs, order our Starbucks pumpkin spice lattes, and post aesthetic Instagram pictures in a pumpkin patch. Rather than letting the jeers deter us from participating in Christian Girl Autumn, we should push back and enjoy the Fall season in any way we please. #BringBackBasic.