In the sixth and last episode of the season we delve into the future of girlhood in online culture. Since 2023, the so-called “year of the girl” with trends like girl math, girl dinner, and the Barbie movie’s influence, girlhood has become a widely discussed cultural and theoretical concept. We’ve learned that the figure of the girl has evolved into a digital strategy rather than a fixed identity, one that is shaped by algorithms, aesthetics, and performance. Together with one of the initiators of @everyoneisagirl Ester Freider, Lilian Stolk from The Hmm and Mela Miekus from the Institute of Network Cultures explore how femininity is performed online and the end of identity.

Mentioned in this episode:

Pinkydoll’s NPC TikTok live

“Everyone is a Girl” by Alex Quicho

@everyoneisagirl on Instagram

Ghosted 1996 on Instagram

Sighswoon on Instagram

“Networks and Their Discontents“ by William Kherbek referenced in “I’m Like a Pdf But a Girl“ by Ester Freider

“Side-eyeing the cyberbaroque“ by Ester Freider

“Hallucinating sense in the era of infinity-content“ by Carolina Busta

Princess Substack highlights

Find The Hmm at:

Find Ester at:

Thinking Face Emoji is a podcast by The Hmm, in collaboration with The Institute of Network Cultures, and financially supported by the Creative Industries Fund NL.

Jingle and sound design by Jochem van der Hoek

Editing by Salome Berdzenishvili

Cover art by Aspirin

In the fifth episode of Thinking Face Emoji, Margarita Osipian from The Hmm and Anielek Niemyjski from the Institute of Network Cultures are joined by writer and independent researcher Salome Berdzenishvili, to discuss the online aesthetic of the post-Soviet sad girl. Together they dissect the sad girl industrial complex to explore how this aesthetic emerged, and how it shapes and reflects the visual and emotional archives of Soviet and post-Soviet eras.

Mentioned in this episode:

Лана Дель Рей - Летняя Печалька - Lana del Ray Summertime Sadness with voiceover

Girl Online - Symposihmm playback

Preliminary Materials For a Theory of the Young-Girl by Tiqqun

Becoming and Unbecoming – Eastern European Girlhood Online by Salome Berdzenishvili

Moy Marmeladny trend on TikTok

#Slavic Core - TikTok

Clean girl in a post soviet country TikTok by Sh.Sayadze

How to Become as Intimidating Yet Visually Striking as Brutalist Architecture by Sumayya Bisseret Martinez

Mental health walk in Eastern Europe TikTok trend

Eastern European girlhood on Instagram, bikini in puddles compilation

Find The Hmm at:

Find Salome at:

Thinking Face Emoji is a podcast by The Hmm, in collaboration with The Institute of Network Cultures, and financially supported by the Creative Industries Fund NL.

Jingle and sound design by Jochem van der Hoek.

Editing by Salome Berdzenishvili.

Cover art by Aspirin.

In this episode, Maja Mikulska from The Hmm and Anielek Niemyjski from the Institute of Network Cultures are joined by Maya B. Kronic - co-author of Cute Accelerationism and Head of Research and Development at Urbanomic - to discuss all things Sock. From Bushwick enbies to memes and fancy foot cover-ups, the conversation focuses on what it means to explore gender nonconformity, both online and offline.

Mentioned in the episode:

Having roommates in Bushwick be like

Logged On podcast episode with Maya

NB names be like

Demi Lovato being nonbinary for less than a year

Gender adventure TikToker

Enby barista trend

Socks in queer experience

Zettay Ryouiki

Find The Hmm at:

linkin.bio

Find Maya at:

Thinking Face Emoji is a podcast by The Hmm, in collaboration with The Institute of Network Cultures, and financially supported by the Creative Industries Fund NL.

Jingle and sound design by Jochem van der Hoek

Editing by Salome Berdzenishvili

Cover art by Aspirin

In the third episode of Thinking Face Emoji, Margarita Osipian from The Hmm and researcher Mita Medri, are joined by writer and cultural commentator Ana Sumbo, to discuss the online phenomenon of looksmaxxing. Hunter vs prey eyes, the canthal tilt, siren vs. doe eyes, angel vs witch skull, or a FYP filled with Gigachad jawlines. This is the landscape, or some might say cesspool, of looksmaxxing. With its incel-verse undertones and radical history, we discuss whether this phenomenon is just another glow-up trend or is it signaling a resurgence in eugenics?

Mentioned in this episode:

The Slow Burn Back to Eugenics by Ana Sumbo

The Digital Legacy of Eugenics project by Lila Brustad

Rage against the machine: how incel culture went mainstream in 2023 by Günseli Yalcinkaya

Predatory Data: Eugenics in Big Tech and Our Fight for an Independent Future by Anita Chan

I tried all of the most popular looksmaxxing glowup tips! | TikTok clip from Michael Hoover

Deathnics thread on looksmax.org

Yassified Eugenics by Abha Ahad

POV: How the SS officers pulled up to the Nuremberg trials | TikTok clip from Kareem Shafti

Are you the hunter or the hunted? | Instagram video from @rawreturned

Lard of estrogen | Instagram video from @nickfraserrrrr

Find The Hmm at:

linkin.bio

Find Ana at:

Thinking Face Emoji is a podcast by The Hmm, in collaboration with The Institute of Network Cultures, and financially supported by the Creative Industries Fund NL.

Jingle and sound design by Jochem van der Hoek.

Editing by Salome Berdzenishvili.

Cover art by Aspirin.

In this episode Salome Berdzenishvili, from the Institute of Network Cultures, and Sjef van Beers, from The Hmm, talk to Dr. Daniël de Zeeuw, from the University of Amsterdam’s department of Mediastudies, about how terms originally associated with incel and femcel communities seem to have reached the mainstream.

Mentioned in this episode:

“‘Teh Internet is Serious Business’: On the Deep Vernacular Web Imaginary and its Discontents“

Based and confused: Tracing the political connotations of a memetic phrase across the web

Find The Hmm at:

thehmm.nl

link in bio

Find Daniël at:

bluesky

uva.nl

Thinking Face Emoji is a podcast by The Hmm, in collaboration with The Institute of Network Cultures, and financially supported by the Creative Industries Fund NL.

Jingle and sound design by Jochem van der Hoek.

Editing by Salome Berdzenishvili.

Cover art by Aspirin.

In this inaugural episode of Thinking Face Emoji, Margarita Osipian and Sjef van Beers from The Hmm, are joined by Sam Cummins, of Nymphet Alumni, to discuss the girlboss. Overly familiar with the many critiques this online stereotype has gotten over the years, we shift our focus to look at the cultural and aesthetic environment that led to the girlboss, her inception, and the impact she made on our (online) culture today.

Mentioned in this episode:

Ban Bossy — I’m Not Bossy. I’m the Boss.

Beyoncé at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards

That Feeling You Recognize? Obamacore.

What Do Students at Elite Colleges Really Want?

Nymphet Alumni Ep. 113: Information Age Grindset w/ Ezra Marcus

All-woman Blue Origin crew floats in space

In Space, No One Can Hear You Girlboss

Find The Hmm at:

linkin.bio

Find Sam and Nymphet Alumni at:

Instagram

Nymphetalumni

Instagram - Nymphet Alumni

Thinking Face Emoji is a podcast by The Hmm, in collaboration with The Institute of Network Cultures, and financially supported by the Creative Industries Fund NL.