What is ‘Rat Girl Summer’? Hilarious new trend sees women rejecting ‘hot’ stereotypes in favor of ‘feral’ lifestyle that celebrates ‘mayhem, nibbling on little snacks, and killing the cringe’
- US-based Lola Kolade coined Rat Girl Summer as this year’s defining mood
- The key rules include ‘you have to go outside’ and ‘nibbling on little snacks’
- Affirmations for #ratgirlsummer include: ‘Embarrassment is fake, and I am real’
The sweltering summer months of the past few years have brought with them their own defining mood.
Each year’s high-temperature season has coalesced around an of-the-moment viral identity in a tradition that brought us the Hot Girl Summer of 2019, which took its inspiration from Megan Thee Stallion’s hit of the same name.
It has since become something of an annual ritual for social media users to unite around a particularly catchy concept that best represents whatever form of lifestyle they hope to manifest during the summer period.
And the consensus this year is that it’s all about having a joyously unapologetic mindset whilst in search of food and adventures – known as Rat Girl Summer.
Creator Lola Kolade conceived Rat Girl Summer as a framework to take on a joyously unapologetic mindset whilst in search of food and adventures
In a follow-up post, she established four essential rules which include ‘going outside’ and ‘NO OVERTHINKING’
The phrase was coined by writer and content creator Lola Kolade, who declared in an early June TikTok: ‘We’re having a Rat Girl Summer, okay?
‘We’re scurrying around the streets, we’re nibbling our little snacks, and generally finding ourselves in places we have no business being in.’
In a follow-up post, she established four essential rules. She began: ‘You have to go outside… you cannot scurry in bed, you cannot scurry on your couch.’
But those embracing this way of life are allowed two days per week for ‘rotting in bed,’ whilst ‘scrolling’ and ‘binge-watching.’
The next rule was all about ‘nibbling on our little snacks.’ Lola revealed: ‘That means that we’re eating and enjoying eating.
‘Starving yourself to be skinny for summer is out. Eating nourishing meals so you can make mischief and cause mayhem is in.’
Thirdly, she said Rat Girl Summer involves ‘killing the cringe,’ meaning: ‘The part of you that feels embarrassed when you wanna do certain things – kill immediately, and bury the body. That’s over.’
And, last but not least, the final rule was ‘no overthinking.’ She concluded: ‘You think a rat thinks twice before stealing a slice of pizza and scurrying across the subway platform? No. We’re going with our gut, we’re going with our intuition.’
The results are chock full of posts like one from user Meg Moon, depicting a designated driver handing over extremely messy tins of nachos to her three giddily drunk pals
🐀🧀 #ratgirlsummer #rodentenergy #summervibes #summer2023 #weoutside #selfcare
Embrace Rat Girl Summer: The key affirmations of living your best life
- ‘Being alive is good actually’
- ‘This is my reality. You only exist if I say you do’
- ‘Embarrassment is fake, and I am real’
- ‘Liking myself is not illegal. I will not be arrested for thinking I’m dope’
- ‘Being cool is overrated, my priority is having fun’
- ‘The only thing that’s cringe is believing in cringe’
- ‘I don’t need to have an opinion on that – I can just shake my a** instead’
Later updates from Lola introduced a spate of ‘affirmations’ that are essential for Rat Girl Summer.
Among them were ‘Being alive is good actually’; ‘This is my reality. You only exist if I say you do’; as well as ‘Embarrassment is fake, and I am real.’
On TikTok, the hashtag ‘Rat Girl Summer’ has racked up more than 26 million views over the past few months.
The results are chock full of posts like one from user Meg Moon, depicting a designated driver handing over extremely messy tins of nachos to her three giddily drunk pals.
The term even popped up in a discussion on the Today show, with guest Naz Perez, host of the podcast I Don’t Get It, summarizing the concept of Rat Girl Summer to Jenna Bush Hager and Hoda Kotb: ‘We’ve all heard of Hot Girl Summer, right? Well, according to TikTok user Lola, we are embracing rodent energy now.’
Some have proposed other types of animal-girl summers, with user Gabi Hartman also putting forward the idea of flying squirrel girl summer – ‘the heart of a rat, but she’s somehow jetting to Europe… you don’t know how she’s doing it, but she likes to party and drink champagne’ – offering Alix Earle as an example.
According to Gabi, seal girl summer is for ‘the girl that just wants to sit in the sun… [with] golden retriever energy,’ while a sloth girl summer means ‘inside all day’ in sweatpants, ‘even though it’s 90 degrees.’
It’s no secret that urbanites, particularly New Yorkers, have long had a contentious relationship with the small furry, sewer-dwelling residents of their city.
Pizza Rat, who found fame in 2015, is probably as close as one can get to a mascot for Rat Girl Summer adherents
Ratatouille pulled up on us 😂@Iz LaMarr @DJ InO @Fifthfloor #fyp
After NYC’s new sanitation commissioner Jessica Tisch addressed her department’s mission at a news conference in October 2022, one soundbite went viral, buoyed by her no-nonsense delivery: ‘The rats are absolutely going to hate this announcement. But the rats don’t run this city, we do.’
Yet it’s impossible to deny how the unassailable tenacity of the little critters has also charmed many of their human counterparts over the years.
Pizza Rat is arguably the most iconic example – with the rodent becoming an overnight meme in 2015 after it was captured dragging a slice of pizza much larger than its body down a flight of subway stairs.
One might even argue Pizza Rat is something of the Rat Girl Summer mascot. As documented in one ‘Rat Girl Summer check in,’ Lola reminded adherents to engage in ‘shenanigans’ and stay on top of their ‘dilly dallying agenda.’
Back in November 2022, another rat stole the spotlight as it calmly made its way down a window display of high-end leather bags at luxury boutique Il Bisonte in the West Village.
And this past July emerged the Washington Square Park ‘Ratatouille’ rat, so named when it scampered in front of performers in the park in broad daylight.
The performers in turn began cheering it on with a rhythmic chant of, ‘Ra-Ratatouille, Ratatouille! Ra-Ratatouille, Ratatouille!’ until it disappeared into nearby greenery.
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