Teenage Girls Aren’t like Teenage Girls Anymore少女再無少女樣

It seems that teen girls want the same things out of life as their adult counterparts. Is that a problem？

少女們想要的生活用品似乎跟成年女性一樣。這會是個問題嗎？

Making the rounds on X last December， was a Christmas list. Apparently belonging to a 13-year-old girl， it listed， amongst a lot of things， facial ice globes， a silk pillowcase， products from Charlotte Tilbury and Drunk Elephant， and clothing from Skims1. People online took issue with the list not just because there was a lot on it—it totaled 44 things， with “money” included twice—but because it wasn’t the stuff they expected to see on a Christmas list from a girl of that age. Rather， it was essentially the same kinds of things that an adult might want. That raised a boatload of deeper questions. Namely， why don’t teenage girls act like teenage girls anymore？

去年12月，社交媒體X平臺上流傳著一份圣誕愿望清單。顯然，這是一個13歲女孩寫的，上面列了很多東西，包括面部冰敷球、真絲枕套、夏洛特·蒂鉑麗和醉象的產品以及Skims的塑身衣。這份清單在網上引起了人們爭論，不僅是因為上面有很多東西——總共 44 件，其中“錢”出現了兩次——還因為他們認為這些東西不該出現在這個年齡段女孩的圣誕清單上。這些基本上都是成年人可能想要的東西。這引發了許多更深層次的問題。那就是，為何少女的行為舉止不再像少女？

Really， the viral Christmas list is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the issue of teenage girls acting like grown women. Scroll through TikTok long enough and it’s likely you’ll find not only age inappropriate makeup routines being practised by near pre-teens， but those that have been posted in response， outlining what is appropriate for a teenage girl. And there’s the near constant debates about whether what’s been worn by certain starlets2 is suitable or not. Disney-era Miley Cyrus was subject to this discourse， and now that conversation has been transposed onto figures like Alabama Barker and Millie Bobby Brown， who consistently opt for clothing and makeup that makes them look older than they are.

提到少女表現得像成年女性這個問題，這份病毒式傳播的圣誕清單其實只是冰山一角。瀏覽抖音海外版TikTok的時間夠長，你就會發現，不止有十一二歲的女孩在練習化不符合她們年齡的妝容，還有人在下面評論，簡略告知十幾歲女孩應該怎樣化妝才得體。此外，關于某些影視小花的妝容是否合適的爭論也幾乎從未停止過。迪士尼時代的麥莉·塞勒斯就曾受到這種討論的困憂，現在這種討論轉移到了阿拉巴馬·巴克和米莉·鮑比·布朗等人身上，她們總是選擇讓自己看起來比實際年齡大的服裝和妝容。

For some， it’s a tale as old as time： the controversial Christmas list is simply the modern iteration of putting on your mum’s heels or cradling a Baby Annabell. For others， it’s a decidedly modern phenomenon that’s been born out of the omnipresence of the online sphere. Dominating these spaces are not just hordes and hordes of influencers， but “normal” people seeking to paint a more idealised picture of their life. Add all of this together and， according to psychologist Dr. Lalitaa， “adult-like behaviours are portrayed as glamorous and sophisticated”. This leads to “adolescents wanting to imitate them to fit in” she tells HUNGER.

對一些人來說，這不是什么新鮮事：這份有爭議的圣誕清單只不過是現代版的穿媽媽高跟鞋和抱安娜貝爾娃娃。而對另一些人來說，這種現象顯然新潮，產生于無處不在的網絡。占領網絡的不僅是許許多多的網紅，還有試圖把自己的生活描繪得更為理想化的“普通人”。心理學家拉利塔博士認為，所有這些因素加起來，“成年人的行為被描述為迷人和精致的”。她接受《饑渴》雜志采訪時說，“這導致青少年想要通過模仿來融入”。

Dr. Lalitaa points out that these forms of imitation are part of “the identity formation process in teenagers”. In other words， something like the Christmas list is， in theory， normal. It’s arguable3， however， whether this time round it goes a step further than imitation. Whether the teens of today—with their #GRWMs4 featuring Nars products and matching silk pyjama sets—are almost enacting5 adulthood. This has consequences. “They’re being exposed to behaviours that are too complex and damaging to an emotionally immature central nervous system，” Neuroscientist Dr. Rachel Taylor adds. According to her， the outcome of that is anything from “anxiety and unhappiness” to “sociopathic behaviour”.

拉利塔博士指出，這些形式的模仿是“青少年身份認同形成過程”的一部分。換句話說，像圣誕清單這樣的事情從理論上講是正常的。然而，這一次的行為是否超越了單純的模仿，尚存爭議。如今的青少年——她們在#GRWM視頻里展示娜斯彩妝產品和配搭的真絲睡衣套裝——是不是在扮演成年人，也沒有定論。這會產生后果。神經學家蕾切爾·泰勒博士補充道：“她們正在接觸的行為過于復雜，會對情緒尚未成熟的中樞神經系統造成傷害。”據她所言，這樣的后果輕則是“焦慮和不快樂”，重則是“反社會行為”。

Essentially， teenagers aren’t adults. While that might seem like a “grass is greener” kind of statement， they’re not equipped to face the realities of the adults they’re emulating. Dr Taylor also thinks it’s important to highlight that teens are mimicking “behaviour that is promoted by the algorithm.” “It’s really concerning that there is an apparent ‘grooming’6 of children and adolescents into thinking that the behaviour they see on there is what all adults do. The algorithm is there for a reason. To convince people that they need certain products to be the human being that they want to be”.

青少年本質上并不是成年人。雖然這有點吹毛求疵的味道，但他們確實并沒有能力面對他們所效仿的成年人的現實。泰勒博士還認為，重要的是要強調，他們正在模仿的是“算法推薦的行為”。“兒童和青少年明顯受到誘導，以為他們在網上看到的行為是所有成年人都會做的事情，這非常令人擔憂。而算法的存在是有原因的，為的是讓人們相信他們需要某些產品才能成為自己想要成為的人。”

So， where can teenage girls go to explore what it actually means to be a teenage girl？ It’s slim pickings7. The Christmas list discourse spurred users on X to talk about the decline of magazines for teen girls， some of the only spaces that celebrated the experience of adolescence. Mizz shut its doors back in 2013 and Rookie Mag was dissolved in 2018. “That magazine truly made me feel like it was the coolest thing in the world to be a 15-year-old girl who was a little weird and sentimental about things [sic]” said one user. While you still can buy teen magazines today—J14， Anyway and Teen Breathe are a few that I found—they definitely don’t have the same cultural resonance as their bygone predecessors. And that’s not really a surprise given they’re competing with hyper-addictive platforms like TikTok.

所以，作為一個少女到底意味著什么，少女們該去何處探尋答案呢？她們的選擇很少。圣誕清單的討論引發 X平臺上的用戶談論起少女雜志的衰落，這些雜志是為數不多歌頌青春的陣地。《宓姿》早在2013年閉刊，《新秀雜志》也于 2018 年解散。一位用戶說：“那本雜志真的讓我覺得，做一個有些古怪且多愁善感的 15 歲女孩，是世界上最酷的事情［原文如此］。”雖然現在仍然可以買到青少年雜志——J14、Anyway和《青少年呼吸》是我能找到為數不多的青少年雜志——但它們肯定不如從前同類雜志能引發文化共鳴。鑒于它們正在與 TikTok 等超級令人上癮的平臺競爭，這并不奇怪。

All of this comes at a time where grown-up women are obsessed with evoking the experience of their younger years. With “girl dinner” 8 and girly aesthetics reigning supreme， media outlets had even gone as far as to call 2023 the “year of the girl”. And it’s this contradiction that makes the phenomena on display in the viral Christmas list hard to watch. No one would implore teenagers to stop trying to grow up so fast than the women now tucking into9 picky-bits， fixing bows in their hair， and clutching their newest Jellycat toy.

而這一切都發生在成年女性癡迷于重溫少女時期經歷的時代。隨著“女孩晚餐”和少女美學大行其道，媒體甚至將2023年稱為“女孩年”。正是這種矛盾，讓這份圣誕清單揭示的現象讓人感到難以接受。現在的女人正手抓便利食物大吃特吃，往頭發上綁蝴蝶結，把玩最新款的果凍貓玩偶，沒人比她們更希望少女們不要那么急著快快長大。

（譯者為“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎者）

1金·卡戴珊與合伙人延斯·格雷德（Jens Grede）和埃瑪·格雷德（Emma Grede）共同創立的塑形內衣品牌。

2 starlet希望成名（或有明星相）的年輕女演員。

3 arguable無把握的；可疑的。 4 GRWM全稱為get ready with me，是社交媒體上流行的縮寫詞。作為話題標簽，GRWM經常出現在美妝博主的視頻中，主要用于描述視頻或帖子的類型。創作者在其中分享他們為一天或特定事件做準備的例行公事。這可以包括化妝、發型設計、選擇服裝或其他個人修飾任務。視頻通常是休閑和對話式的，旨在為觀眾提供提示、產品推薦，或者只是為了讓他們感覺自己正在與創作者一起閑逛，從而心情愉悅。 5 enact表演。

6 groom 培養，使做好準備。 7 slim pickings選擇很少或有限。

8 女孩晚餐。外網興起的社交媒體趨勢，指女生們把一些喜歡的食物隨機放在一起組合成一頓大餐，一般是奶酪、餅干、水果、冷肉等零食。 9 tuck into sth盡情地吃，痛快地吃。