☾

With my graduation project egirls/irlgirls I want to provoke thoughts on how teenage girls are perceived in today's society by focusing on the internet based egirl subculture. To put egirls in another context, I have made the digital into something analogue: a book.

Throughout the years, girls who are enthusiastic about something have been diminished and ridiculed. A band whose fandom primarily consists of young girls is usually not considered a good band by others. Girl fans are often portrayed as hysterical and crazy. Girls who like fashion and beauty are not regarded as intellectual. Do girls have cultural capital?

The word egirl – electronic girl – derives from the gaming world, where it has been used as a derogatory term to describe girls who play video games. Through the video app TikTok, where teenagers post dance videos and memes, the label egirl has gotten a new definition. Typical for egirls is a makeup consisting of pink blush and often a painted tear or heart under the eyes. The style borrows elements from goths, emos, skaters and Japanese anime. Egirls look moody rather than bubbly in their Instagram photos.

The book includes my own text based on my research and the girl’s stories, which are written based on interviews over Instagram. The intention behind egirls/irlgirls is to give the girls stories a serious context. I hope it will serve as an insight to the girls’ mindsets as well as a study of the general perception of girls in a contemporary setting.

Text, design and bookbinding by me. Printed on risograph at Hverdag Books. Supervisor: Stefan Ellmer. Bachelor's degree project for Oslo National Academy of the Arts, 2020.