Wednesday, September 10, 2014

The Single-Story of the "Cali Girl"

First, girls from California don’t say Cali. The “Cali Girl” one-story is interesting because until you meet a girl from California, you probably believe in the stereotype built up around girls who live in southern California. I only have to say “Cali Girl” and I’m sure you are already picturing a smoking hot, tall, skinny, blond girl with wavy beach hair who is either wearing a bathing suit or mini shorts and a loose tank top. The single-story of “Cali girls” is that they are all drop-dead gorgeous with perfectly tanned bods who spend their whole days at the beach. Although that stereotype isn't always wrong, it isn't always right.




What has built up the one-story of the “Cali girl”? The media of course! If you didn’t already have a single-story of “Cali girls”, then one listen to Katy Perry’s chart topper “California Girls” sure built one up for you. I won’t lie, I love Katy Perry, and “California Girls” is a fun and catchy song, but it’s the perfect example of showing the single-story.


I have two roommates who are from Southern California; one lives in LA and the other lives twenty minutes from Disneyland. It would be easy to single-story one of the girls, Courtney, who is blonde, loves the beach, wears shorts everywhere, and probably says "like" every 3 words, but she has many stories that make her who she is and much more than a “Cali girl”. A third roommate of mine recently moved to California with her family this past summer. The single-story that she knew was that everyone in California was gorgeous, blond, surfed and long boarded. My roommate is a short Filipino girl from Minnesota. She was convinced that she at least had to learn how to long board if she wanted to survive and be cool in California. Once she got to California, she was able to learn more about the people and develop a better understanding of who they are. 

5 comments:

  1. from california...never surfed and didnt go to the beach every day. yup, i understand

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  2. Wait wait wait- there are people in California who don't long board?? Really?

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  3. I agree. California girls are different than many people expect them to be. It also seems funny that in the last little while, Utah girls are typically the ones with the blond hair.

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  5. This makes me laugh because I dated a girl from California who loved to be called a "cali girl" had blonde hair and loved to perpetuate the stereotype, she even talked about how awesome the stereotype was so that didn't help much with their one story. Also Alyssa waitta sinjgle story Utah girls, My wife, my sister, my mother and my sisters-in-law, all born and raised in utah, none have blonde hair haha.

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