Dylan Mulvaney's 'Days of Girlhood' song sparks debate about 'female stereotypes'

Trans activist and influencer Dylan Mulvaney has divided the Internet after releasing her debut song "Days of Girlhood".

Mulvaney released the song to celebrate two years since publicly transitioning, but song's lyrics have sparked a debate on social media about female stereotypes.

Lyrics in the pre-chorus mention "retail therapy", "overspending", picking "up meds", having a "walk of shame", and having a "breakdown" all in relation to 'girlhood' and the female experience.

But critics are saying the above lyrics reduce women to harmful stereotypes related to consumerism, sleeping around and poor mental health.

"Prescription meds, walk of shame, laziness and retail therapy. You totally get being a [woman]," one TikTok reads.

Another TikTok said, "According to Dylan Mulvaney's new song, all women do is spend money, get drunk, sleep around and need medications to balance our moods."

However, many other women have disputed such arguments, saying the lyrics are no different to a lot of other pop songs out there, and that people are only taking issue with it because Mulvaney is a trans woman.

"I want some of y’all to think deeply about why when Katy Perry sings about California girls in bikinis it’s cute, but when Dylan Mulvaney sings about retail therapy you’re suddenly up in arms," one Twitter user wrote.

TikTok creator Jacqueline Ajueny-James pointed out that trends such as "girl math" and equating makeup, skincare and other consumerist items as what it means to "be a girl" has been popular for a year.

"You guys literally do not care until a trans woman does it," she went on to say. "Stop pretended to be mad PLEASE."

Whilst others argued that the song isn't about the general experience of what it means to be a girl/woman, rather the song is about her experience as a trans woman.

Speaking to PinkNews, Mulvaney herself shared the meaning behind the song, and it wasn't to reduce women to stereotypes. She said the song was about “my desire to reclaim my relationship to femininity and celebrate trans joy."

Sign upto our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel