The Downward Spiral of the Girl Dinner 

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I liked when girl dinner was fighting the "women in kitchens" stereotype by showing that a lot of us, at least when we're alone, are just slapping random shit together for dinner instead of cooking a pot roast or whatever. Like it's a whole pot of box Mac and cheese, or seven different random things from the fridge.

my favorite spinoff of this trend is "dog math". It's very harmless and adorable.

I agree. As a cis woman (who's feminine but doesn't wear makeup, has PCOS, and doesn't want kids) I feel really alienated when my gender is 'required' to be things I'm not.

I’m also very keyboard warrior about “girl dinner”… I think it’s easy for people to turn it into something extremely unhealthy and NOT funny. Completely unrelated- but Grayson you are SO pretty!!! Your eye makeup always looks so cute!

i'm so glad you brought up the girl history tiktok. when i saw that on my timeline it made me feel sick that somebody would reduce a genocide to something as minuscule as fighting over a birthday party, and even more sick that so many people would like and share it

the dog came over cuz he heard "dinner", stayed cuz he heard "dinner" again x200 my boy was hopeful

The way Casper looks at you with such love!! And his lil cute nose. Also I love the filming set up it's very cozy 🍂

The initial trend was so funny to me bc this was like every dinner for me from age 5-11. Picky child + mom who can't cook = a cup of raspberries, yogurt, buttered bread and lunch meat every night. I was literally eating the FDA MyPlate lmaooo I feel like this trend would be more innocent if it was *that* much more balanced

Girl history gave me a stroke…are we joking

i love eating a bake potato and pretending im a 9 year old victorian era british child who just got a off my 1 pound a week industrial job

My girl dinner is bread with tomatoes and a bunch of pickles, its just quick, easy and cheap after a whole day in uni. And super yum!

sounds like we re-invented justgirlythings

THIS!! EXACTLY THIS!! as a masc lesbian nothing makes me feel more alienated and out of my depth then this whole trend of the infantilized, dumbed down, hyper feminine "girl" that everyone seems to relate to.

i agree 100%! it just shows that the problem is that the sisterhood is inherently flawed and because we've only known the patriarchy we compare ourselves to it in a way that is meant to be reclaiming it, but we end up in a vicious cycle particularly when it comes to things like "girl math"

"a meal made up of other, smaller meals" That's tapas. Congratulations, TikTok. You've renamed tapas. 👏😐

There is the long-running stereotype that "girls eat like birds." Have a little of this, have a little of that, you get the idea. When I was a teen and well into my 20s, a regular quick meal for me would be a plate of grapes, apple slices, cheese, club crackers, and pizza rolls. Does that constitute a boy plate? Who's to say? It was the 1980s and I didn't care about labels. Fun fact: my people, Jewish people, refer to those plates as nosh plates. We have for decades and we love them. You don't have to be Jewish to enjoy a nosh plate and it absolutely removes the "girl plate" stigma. Eat whatever you want! It's a mitzvah! L'chayim!

Its not a deep joke but it got turned into something ugly. So youre right with your thoughts and im happy about this video. I think its important to use a bit of critical thinking on light hearted jokes sometimes.

I have noticed this trend on like "girl math" and "girl dinner." Which at first started as, as you stated, a self-depricating inside joke between women. It's funny and sometimes sparks good conversations. But some ppl take them way too seriously, use it to infantalize themselves. I think prime example of this is the 'bimbo' subculture that arose from Tiktok. At first ' -dumb- clueless blonde giri' audios were used to poke at the negative stereotypes and reclaim them. But eventually it became its own aesthetic, with girls saying it's actually fine to be -dumb- oblivious . Like ?? Update: since a commentator is accusing me of being abelist for saying 'dumb', I want clarify that the 'dumb' im using does not refer to the medical term. I mean to say acting willfully clueless. And before this commentor misinterprets my message again, I'm not saying bimbos are unintelligent. I am saying that pockets of the TikTok 'bimbo' subculture encourages women to act/be unintelligent, and rely on your looks to get your bag.

i had initially liked the “girl dinner” thing bc like, even as a trans person actively trying to not be perceived as a girl, i feel like it really did something to normalize different eating habits and as someone who’s autistic and has arfid (a fairly newly classified ed that a lot of people perceive as “extreme picky eating”) which causes a lot of shame for me around eating food i feel like “girl dinner” kinda like made me feel a little less ashamed of my relationship with food bc like it kinda tosses others’ judgements of a meal out the window yknow? like i cant eat anything with tomato sauce or anything like that, i can’t eat anything super mushy in texture (save for i guess like rice and ice cream and the like ig) , there are so many bad textures for me, too many smells at once can make me feel sick so like damn dude if dinner tonight needs to be like little ritz cracker sandwiches with pepperoni and cheese or a collection of things i found in the pantry or the fridge that looks unconventional or weird like,, who cares because at the end of the day im providing my body with fuel as a neurodivergent person who has skipped meals entirely in the past because i ran out of safe foods or the ingredients to make something that works for me, that’s more than i can say for myself some days. i can see how in some ed spaces (unrelated to arfid as arfid is a very specific type of ed) it could be harmful but my main issue as well is the gendering of it. and this “girl math” stuff or whatever?? idek. still just sounds like how my brain functions with adhd. and this “i’m just a girl who-“ oh come onnn like.. yeah i’ll definitely do an “i’m just a silly boy who xyz” quite a but but like .. ironically enough half the things id say i do literally are these feminine stereotypes these videos push and that’s what’s killing me like i am the description of most of these stereotypes but i am not a woman so it’s like.. come on dude..

you absolutely spilled with this one! i feel like things like girl-dinner and girl-math are (maybe unintentionally, but still) leading to a weird WASPish tradwife normalization where the self-infantilization of women results in them giving up basic autonomy and critical thinking under the guise of just 'being a girl'. i appreciate you and other content creators are talking about it, especially in the wake of *that video coming out.

The way your dog looks at you omg 🥺 so sweet

this has nothing to do with the video, but i thought ur cat was a raccoon & in my mind i was like “yea that makes sense, grayson would buy a raccoon” 🌚

I feel like the first tiktok I saw about "girl dinner" was trying so hard to make it into a meme/something viral that I instantly found it annoying. It felt like the manufactured VSCO girl trend to me. Glad I now also have an angry keyboard warrior talking about it lol. Also, you are glowing in this video.

great commentary. as a feminine Black woman that is also 6’1 and curvier, i often find that i can’t tap into the “girl” ideal for social capital. i am always perceived as a “woman” (that is, sexualized, or just older and less deserving of the grace that comes with girlhood). or i’m just othered in general lol

I can't stop staring at Casper he is so cute THE WAY HE LOOKS UP like yes ma'am girl dinner is totes problematic yes yes

"girl" whatever has irked me from the start, it's so painful and gives me second hand embarrassment to watch grown women dumb themselves down and dare I say infantilize themselves to seem cool and different. My roommate is a terrible driver and when she does something whack or drives over a curb, she'll say "that was so girl of me." It's totally become stealthy misogyny as a way to associate being unintelligent or childlike with women. and of course that's not what these women are consciously doing, but that's the effect of it and I just feel like... can we please have some dignity for ourselves this is so embarrassing.... I would also argue that the purpose of it from the start wasn't to bond with other women over not having the energy to cook sometimes. I really think it started as just another way to be seen as fun and individualistic on the internet. I've seen a lot of people defend it as being a statement against the pressure for women to cook meals for their families and put a lot of effort into domestic chores in general. I think I'd agree with that if the trend was most popular with middle-aged women with families or just children, but it's not.. at all.. At least from what I've seen it's women 16-25, maybe 30, who aren't responsible for feeding anyone but themselves. So why take something everyone does: eat, and perpetuate the idea that women's food is dainty and small and cute. I would argue that having snacks for dinner has never been exclusively a girl thing, so why make it one

your dog is sucha good listener

I don't get girl dinner. It's literally regular dinner in quite a few countries of Europe. In my culture you do a bigger lunch and lighter meal in the evening.

Im glad you spoke about this! i feel the exact same way

Girl you're beautiful and that Manga collection is insane, immaculate taste. Very well done video also!!

Love that you're posting on your main channel again!

the way the dog looks at you through the whole video is so sweet!!!!

Casper: “Momma, are you talking to yourself again?” 🤣

you explained this so perfectly, it’s been so sad and dehumanizing to see

Loved this video! Nice work :)

Whenever I feel that I'm chronically online I will hear about something that I've never heard in my entire life and be reminded that,yes, it CAN get worse lmao Awesome video Grayson

omg thank you for bringing up Palestine and the boycotts❤🇵🇸 it always makes me happy seeing people talking more about my country❤

This was so interesting I honestly didn’t think of this while consuming the original trend, but I definitely feel weird hearing the term girl math or girl history …. Also love your eye makeup you are stunning!!!

LMAOO that cat walking onto the computer at 3:42 and then the computer being gone in the next shot

I am so glad someone is talking abt this.

Oo luvin the hair and the hoodie 🎉🎉

Grayson looks so radiant in this video. I love this hair on them!

this video is so incredibly well executed and i really appreciate you talking about palestine and spreading ways to help. you are forever one of my favorites creators

I love u for this grayson

i thought the term “girl dinner” was funny at first, but as someone who’s had severe disordered eating (i still do) it sent me back into a bad relapse.

I guess I’ve been doing girl dinner wrong. I thought that it was just a bunch of ransk things or full meals deconstructed. I always try to make my plates with a lot of protein and carbs.

so obsessed with ur new backdrop

No but it's interesting because as a very large trans woman (like, 6'2 large) who's always had a big appetite, on one hand I feel validated and seen when I'm eating my little homebaked bun with cashew cheese and olives with diet coke and a lime wedge for dinner, but then on the other hand I'm like... I could never post something like that and not get relentlessly bullied for it? And then in addition to that, the reason I'm only eating a homebaked bun with cashew cheese and olives and diet coke and a lime wedge for dinner is because I am incredibly self-concious about my eating habits bcs of stuff like this, and eating less than I know I need because the sight of my body in the mirror makes me want to throw up? Like, don't get me wrong I feel like an ethereal priestess in a sunny valley in ancient Greece when I'm sipping Port and eating orange slices by myself on a friday night, but.... yeah, it's really not that fun when you think about it?

kind of unrelated but grayson you look soo pretty, and your pets are so cute too💗

This has nothing to do with the video but i just wanted to say that i love the hair, you look so pretty 😭😭

Me and my best friend LOVE the extreme "girl dinner" memes because we both suffer from an ED and it makes us laugh. But yeah, don't normalize Ed's 👍

grayson. u look STUNNING

YOUR DOG IS SOOOOO CUTE OH MY GOD

so well said

i only like the “when you’re being mean to me this is what you’re being mean to” because my boyfriend sends me stuff like that annoy him and it makes me giggle

8:47 aaaaa yes i love this

i can certify girl dinner triggered the hell out of my eating disorder

Great vid

Not the point of the video but your hair is stunning and i love it so much!

Are you gonna do a video going over your fnaf bingo board?

I'm kind of digging the queer femmes reclaiming being a bimbo (notably Chrissy Chlapecka & Scene Queen), just bc personally I was brought up with the idea that Femininity was dumb and shallow & my worth was tied to my intelligence and independence and I'm soooo fucking tired of trying to fight for perfection. Sometimes I need to just relax and saying "I'm just a girl 😢" serves me.

I really wanted your opinion on this trend, i feel like the „girl“ trend is kind of controversial anyway. It is like the sanctity of girlhood and the joys we create amongst ourselves in spite of the patriarchy are being taken away. In a sense the overflow of „girl“ things and these being turned into „boy“, etc. Trends is just anothet jab at teen girls especially. We have always been ridiculed and now it is happening to our shared experiences. It’s probably not that serious but it still kinda sucks. And of course sparse dinners are a universal experience, but i feel like the girl dinner trend made the general “girl” trends be made fun of so much more.

hell yeah, I saw a tiktok saying girl math”” where you buy something that didn’t work for $50 then you return it and exchange it then buy something else for $50 then did you spend $100 or $50 and the answer is $50 bc it’s sunk cost in econ and my mind is blown lmao

honestly i related to girl dinner a lot (and still do) as a person with autism and food aversion problems. sometimes eating some weird combination of foods is better than not eating

i LOVE your lip, what is it??? :D

13:35 yea l agree!!

Banger video as always. To me it was only funny ironically

the discount code dub is killing me 😭

the puppy agrees

off topic but your hair looks fucking phenomenal

Not related but Grayson is so pretty

Worried about you. I hope you are taking care of yourself

Toodle loo you silly goo

i once saw a tweet about ice spice (who is a 23 year old adult woman) smoking, and all of the replies were like "she was never attractive to begin with" and "gross ew ew ew" and just weird things about a woman who can do what she wants. but then when it comes to white girls it doesn't matter...

I am so glad you added the part about boycotting startbucks because I had no idea we were boycotting them until now. As always, free Palestine

I agree that some of the classified girl dinner tik toks kinda fit under eds but honestly I feel like a ton of people made girl dinner about more than it really is. Oncevin awhile you get home at 11 at night, want to just pass out and go to bed but you didn't eat before you left so you eat 8 mozzarella pearls and a spoon full of peanut butter for girl dinner and that's just is what it is

Thank you for speaking about this! I totally got the "girl dinner" thing, that made sense to me as a way of showing that yeah, many of us do often end up eating a few pickles, some yogurt and half a baguette for dinner with a spoonful of peanut butter for dinner because we have no time, energy, money, motivation, etc. to put together a whole cohesive meal. But then with "girl math" and "girly history" it just devolved into pure, original-recipe misogyny where "girl" is just used as a synonym for stupid, frivolous, unserious, clueless. I hate that people don't see it.

Girl dinner to me is being too tired to bother to cook after a long day of other people.

I LOVE your cat. I have (or had 😢) the same breed, his name was Kitty. My mother got attached and wouldn't let me take him with me when I moved out. T.T (I know this has nothing to do with the video but I love your videos and wanted to sprinkle some positive vibes for you ❤❤)

in my day we called it tapas

Swell Entertainment made this video two months ago

I especially hate "girl math" bc wtf does that even mean?? Math is universal, WE ALL DO THE SAME FUCKING MATH. I do a lot of math at work and recently found out that I'm actually good at math and my whole life I was told math wasn't for me bc I'm a girl & so I believed I was bad at math until very recently. WHY is math a masculine thing? The girl math just pisses me off so bad bc us feminists are trying to kill this ideal that women "aren't logical, aren't good at math, etc," just perpetuating age old stereotypes.

let’s watch

Thank you for showing solidarity with Palestine ❤

❤❤❤

It's like a one time banger, you don't hit the pedal with yours boss' wife every saturday but once a month isn't that unhealthy

I don't know what girl dinner is and at this point I'm afraid to ask

11:47 when a skinny person does that it’s girl dinner, but if a fat person does it it’s a depression meal

As an AFAB person! Girl dinner was funny at first because I saw it at the same time as the Barbie mania and girl math, but now it's just a dead horse!

I lowkey thought this trend was about guys/celebrities you found attractive (I haven’t finished the video yet)

Casper 🥺

as a trans masculine person (afab at birth) i really hated the girl dinner trend because all it felt like was gender roles but since it was mostly cis white women doing it it was fine. and then if you criticized it they'd just say "omg its not that deep, why are you hating." i literally got so many transphobic messages from thin cis white women it was crazy. all of those examples you gave of "girl math" are things that i do, but i hated it because i hated something i did being labeled a "girl thing" idk. it just feels like sexism with a pretty pink bow on top.

Ugh you're the best

Grayyy u need to talk about fnaf pleasee

I was just talking about "girl math" with a friend. I absolutely hate the meme. I'm a woman. I'm good at math. I don't think it's cute to lean into the misogynistic stereotypes that I'm bad at it, for a meme. Plus so much "girl math" is literally gender neutral. Like do we really think girls are the only ones justifying purchases they make? But no, we're bringing back "Women be shopping" and saying it's just girls who make poor financial choices. But since it's girls doing it and saying "Tee hee I'm just a little baby" then it's ok???? Like JEEZ I get the world is hard but let's not actively work to be taken less seriously here. It's ridiculous.

Girl Dinner is my Roman Empire (jk)

I think you made a very good point, it seems to reinforce negative gender stereotypes.

I just feel like it was never that deep. It’s a joke, it doesn’t imply anything it’s just supposed to be relatable. Not everything is concrete and literal. (except for the tiktoks that have like one piece of popcorn on the plate)

I feel like girl dinner is like Brittany Broski "depression meal check"