When I open any social media platform, my feed is filled with video after video of people talking about “Tankini Summer.”
Girls all over the internet are complaining about “having” to wear tankinis this summer. They say they will feel shamed if they are the only people wearing a bikini at the pool or beach, but they spent so much time in the gym perfecting their summer body and spent hundreds of dollars on their bikini collection, so they don’t want to wear the tankinis that are “in.”
Until I searched for the tankini videos, only negative posts were coming up on my feed. I did not see one girl say they are taking part in this trend or are excited about tankinis. I did start to see girls come forward and remind people that they can wear whatever they want, and to paraphrase what a lot of girls are posting: we have free will.
Having just come back from spring break, I can assure everyone that girls are still using their free will and are still wearing bikinis. But in my search for more tankini videos, there are people participating in this trend, and they look gorgeous, just as every girl looks stunning in their bikini.
Trends are not something that must be partaken in.
This tankini fad highlights how much pressure to fit in social media puts on people, especially girls. Girls are supposed to be in the know and follow all the trends and be pretty and perfect, but that isn’t real life; it’s edited videos and pictures portraying the good and not the bad.
Good can come from the discourse over tankinis, it is showing girls that they do not have to follow all of the trends; everyone is allowed choice in their lives and they can choose what they want to wear. It is showing that social media is fun but it is not real.
The tankinis also show how older girls are reverting to a younger mindset or trying to act younger. I’ve seen countless videos comparing young pre-teens in Sephora to older teens wearing bows and wearing “no makeup” makeup looks.
Social media and COVID stole a lot of people’s youth, and many girls are realizing the cost of that now and are trying to act younger and steal some of that joy of youth back. It started with coquette bows and baby pink, and now it’s wearing tankinis.
If this trend has shown me anything, it’s that I need to step back from social media and remember what I like. I need to form my own opinions and not let people I don’t know influence my choices so heavily. I should buy what I want based solely on what is good or fun for me. Being influenced is not an altogether evil thing, but finding a happy medium between expressing our freedom of choice and following a trend like a zombie with no brain is the key to not letting social media destroy a sense of self.
So wear a tankini or don’t. We all have free will.
