The Guardian

The hill I will die on: not everything is a ‘girl’ thing – stop gendering and infantilising it all | Elle Hunt

Elle Hunt — Sat, 03 Oct 2026 11:00:57 GMT

No, I don’t want to go for a girl walk before my girl dinner with my girl mates: I am a grown woman who walks and eats and votes – and, patriarchy, I am on to you

This morning, after waking up with my girl cats, I made myself a cup of girl coffee then got stuck into some girl work. I took a break to lift some girl weights, then sent some more girl emails. Finally, after my girl dinner, it was time to get some sleep ahead of another long, hard day of being a girl.

I know what you’re thinking: why is this woman so insistent on gendering her unremarkable activities, and infantilising herself when she is clearly an adult? It’s a fair question. Since the pandemic, when “hot girl walks” followed Megan Thee Stallion’s 2019 song Hot Girl Summer to become one of the first big TikTok trends, this framing has become dismayingly ubiquitous, in person and online.

Elle Hunt is a freelance journalist

The Guardian

The hill I will die on: not everything is a ‘girl’ thing – stop gendering and infantilising it all | Elle Hunt

‘One person turned up at my house’: Russell T Davies on fierce fandom, finding love after grief - and the fear that drives him to keep a knife by the door

‘Sadness, cynicism and deep disappointment’: the Cornell gang-rape case and the failure of #MeToo

What is Zionism and why do some critics describe it as racist?

‘People are deserting it’: why are London mansions struggling to sell?

Decline and fall: who will believe in Raheem Sterling now?

Half of UK wants to rejoin EU and backing it could drive up Labour vote, megapoll finds

Manchester City whistleblower ready to help UK authorities in return for protection

UK-Iran national arrested over alleged bomb plot at RAF Fairford released on bail

London Labour council warns it may raise council tax by 150%

Two Iranian men identified Manchester synagogue as site for alleged bomb plot, court hears

Flydubai co-pilot used crash axe to attack captain, says UAE

‘He feels more relatable’: Burnham’s conference speech wins praise from drifting Labour voters

Prison chief in Christa Pike case oversaw five ‘botched’ executions, lawyers say

UK urged to act as Polymarket takes bets on whether HSBC and Lloyds will fail

Nitrite-free bacon sales boom in UK amid fears over curing chemicals

Manchester City’s guilty verdict brings football’s great sell-off crashing to earth

When is the right time to compare US politics to the Nazi era? This expert on Christian nationalism says: now

Badenoch returns to Conservative conference much stronger than a year ago

My relationship with food was broken. Then I killed my own dinner

‘Elon is my prophet’: how Musk’s Doge team took a wrecking ball to Washington

‘A hefty umami punch’: the best (and worst) supermarket light soy sauce, tasted and rated

Bailiffs and 100 unpaid teachers: inside the collapse of ‘groundbreaking’ yoga studio Triyoga

‘I have to dodge them all the time’: Rome locals incensed by rise in golf cart tours

Comedy wildlife photography award finalists 2026 – in pictures

From Digger to The Strokes: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead

Five Great Reads: ICE 2.0, millennial motherhood, and skinny-dipping with Christine Baranski

From Celebrity Traitors to Extra Geography: the week in rave reviews

USA v Mexico, Nations League, F1 in Malaysia and NFL – follow with us

Croatia v England buildup; tempers flare at Ireland v Israel press conference – matchday live

The football horse that Andy Burnham rode in on is now bucking his vibe | Barney Ronay

Verstappen ends pole wait at Bahrain GP in Malaysia but Russell risks losing more ground

India beat arch-rivals Pakistan in Japan to claim Asian Games cricket gold

Wakey-Wakey: Trinity’s rapid rise and Grand Final run shocks fans from long slumber

Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe 2026: horse-by-horse guide to all the runners

Thrown in with Giggs and Beckham: how Manchester United tried to get Billy Kenny

Nations League: Italy earn draw against 10-man France, Northern Ireland stun Ukraine

Daley Thompson: ‘I was happy to sleep on floors to do what I was doing. You know you have to earn it’

We live in a rape-prone society. The horrific Cornell case reveals what that looks like | Rebecca Solnit

Pete Hegseth just took his personal crusade to a new level | Arwa Mahdawi

What do Britain’s death-penalty cheerleaders have to say about Christa Pike? | Maya Foa

The expansion of Heathrow would be an expensive disaster for Britain and the world. Burnham needs to block it | George Monbiot

I’m not buying into the ‘Keminaissance’. If the Tories lowered the bar any further, they’d be Reform UK | Frances Ryan

The Green party’s anti-Zionism motion is yet another attempt to tell Jews how we should think | Jonathan Freedland

It's true: this is my final column. You have exactly 24 hours to complain before my inbox self-destructs | Marina Hyde

The Guardian view on the Conservative conference: a party still searching for a purpose | Editorial

The Guardian view on Barack Obama’s new podcast: all the president’s books | Editorial

Englishness is not defined by ethnicity | Letters

Utilities are public services – and should not be run as businesses | Letters

Other countries learn from their elders’ wisdom – so could Britain | Letter

Andy Burnham’s ultimate test will be whether people’s lives improve | Letters

Madeline Horwath on the birthday greetings that nobody wants – cartoon

How an 87-year-old Spanish woman became the face of the fight for affordable housing – explainer

Brazil’s neck-and-neck election offers test for growing pro-Trump Latin American bloc

Ann Widdecombe murder suspect charged with planning terror act against Nigel Farage

BT accused of ‘bullying’ customers by pausing broadband in digital landline push

Bangkok at breaking point as floods turn streets into stagnant lakes

‘It’s shocking really’: Devon community tracks River Dart sewage spills

Worst ever outbreak of bluetongue hits British farms

Country diary: The breathtaking sight of a tuna taking flight in British waters | Anita Roy

‘It’s not just about getting drunk!’ How Oktoberfest took over the UK

‘A beacon of peace’: London’s oldest mosque celebrates centenary

England school inspections to be overhauled again after barrage of complaints

‘Just like my big brothers’: boy with cerebral palsy passes GCSEs with eye-tracking technology

Libyan unity talks upended as warlord’s son linked to drone attacks on fuel facilities

Remains of medieval tsar return to Bulgaria after decades-long dispute with Greece

Can anything politicians say at Sunday’s election stop young people from leaving Bosnia?

‘The enemy is tearing our city apart’: terror in Kyiv as Russia ramps up attacks

‘I was making no money’: Travel agent side hustle promoted by influencers criticised over fees

OpenAI says its review into hacks, including on Australian government sites, is costing $500,000 a day

Tesco is first supermarket to offer paid ‘safe leave’ for victims of domestic abuse

Bosses of three firms that supply trains to UK railways made £3.5m last year

‘Happy Christmas, Ange’: why we have always loved a dramatic TV divorce

I craved a mean girl’s approval until My Little Pony broke the spell

‘We swept a lot under the carpet’: Vichy regime film hits home in France of 2026

TV tonight: Strictly shakes up movie week!

‘Brave from the beginning’: 20 years of Friday Night Lights – the sports drama that dared to be different

Get Jiro: Anthony Bourdain’s ultraviolent sushi chef makes for wild, pulpy television

‘My hips can’t help but move’: readers on the songs that always get them dancing

The Guide #263: How Claudia Winkleman became TV’s perfect ‘bad’ gameshow host