WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Flyover Features: Chill Girls and Boys' Clubs

Episode Date: October 29, 2025

Emma and Sophia discuss whether boys are who perpetuate sexism and racism are becoming a norm again.

Welcome back to Flyover Features on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM, a witty radio show where we discuss current events and culture through the lens of an article. I am Sophia Mant and I am here with Emma Verini. And today we will be discussing an article published in The Guardian, titled, As Boys Shift to the Right, we are seeing the rise of a new, chill girl. Even in comparatively liberal spaces, such as my high school, girls who went at locker room talk, risk exclusion, by Naomi. binaught. So what are some of your initial takes on this piece, Emma? I thought it was a great piece, actually. I mean, that doesn't mean that I agreed with everything that was said in it, but I think it was well written for the most part. And I think it's worth noting that the author of this article, it's published in The Guardian, is a high school student. So that's, you know, not often that you see

that in major publications. It does happen sometimes. It does happen in the Wall Street Journal pretty often, but I just wanted to point that out before we sort of get into this piece. That is also why we will not be super mean because she definitely is a good writer and I have a lot of appreciation and respect for someone who writes stuff like that. And, you know, it definitely is like, doesn't feel like, oh, they're just trying to promote this because it's a high schooler. Like, she definitely has a gift for writing opinionated pieces. And I guess essentially this piece is about, it's a political argument that since Donald Trump was elected, men are more openly saying, you know, locker room talk, racist, sexist, homophobic language.

And to fit in, girls are kind of trying to have to self-censor themselves more so that people will like them or risk exclusion and that they think it's getting riskier to be openly blue. And that Trump is the cause for a lot of this and has, you know, damaged relations between men and women. And there's a lot I disagree with on that. I actually don't think the entire argument is false, but that's the gist of what she's writing about. Yeah, and I just want to sort of address the name of Chillgirl. What do you think of when you hear Chillgirl? Because what I think of when I hear Chillgirl is it's used in the dating scene a lot. Like if you're a chill girl, you sort of let the guy you're seeing sort of just get away with anything.

of he doesn't call in a week and he doesn't text you in a week, that's fine. You know, it's cool. But it seems like this, in the context of this article, it's actually being used in just terms of social situations. Yeah. And also, I'll be honest. I'd heard the combination of words chill girls and, oh, I'm chill and loki. I had not heard of the actual, like, meaning in, I don't know, urban tongue of what chill girl was. actually prior to reading this article.

Interesting. And it was a bit odd because she talks about locker room talk, but then she also talks about girls being more politically progressive. So I'm kind of like, well, is there a difference between like, is this just guys saying gross things about women? Or is this like guys saying things I don't agree with? It's probably both and. But like, I think of locker talk is being different than like honestly making a racist or sexist joke. I just think that's being unneedingly explicit in regards to, you know, certain matters that I think people know what I'm getting at and I can't be too explicit on the radio. Yeah, I think that's another phrase that's worth just bringing up and talking about.

Usually when you think of locker room talk, you're not thinking of something that's explicitly political. You're thinking about some of the things that aren't particularly appropriate that your male classmates might say in the locker room. high school. So I'm just sort of curious to what degree does locker room talk constitute conservative or right wing political beliefs. And what are we seeing more of in high school and what are we seeing less of? And this is actually something I can say for certain I'm not sure about because obviously it's been, you know, four years since I've actually been more than four years

since I've actually been in high school. So there could very well have been a major culture shift. It might depend on where you live. But at least in my time in high school, it was very, very looked down upon to have anything that even resembled a right-wing perspective. And I went to a public school. So that might factor in there a little bit. But there was a girl who was bullied and ostracized from her sports team

because some of her teammates guessed that she might have been a Trump supporter. And she didn't actually explicitly say that she was a Trump supporter. But I guess some people latched onto the ID and ran with it. And so my perspective of high school is that is what it is like. So reading this article, it seems like there has been a massive culture shift in the past four to five years. since, I would say since the pandemic, since probably a little bit before the pandemic, height of the, I guess you could say woke, progressive shift that we saw going on. Well, again, that's also something I wonder too, because like, I don't remember,

I thought she was in New York. I don't remember for sure what the author is. But, like, so I went to a public school in a blue county. it was absolutely more socially unacceptable to be, you know, Republican whatever, right-leaning, you know, openly like some teachers and students, yes, I said teachers would like deride people for having certain more traditional views. And like it was very much like forced upon you. Like they had a like kindest event that was just rainbows and celebrating gay stuff and people offering stickers. And it was like almost hard to avoid it or like extreme social pressure to receive a sticker. You know, that would have an indication of pride. And it's weird because my district did still vote for Kamala. So, like, that's what I wonder, too, is, like, statistically more people at that public school are, like, probably not Trump supporters. So, like, it still has to be the majority.

And that's what I wonder, too. Like, does it depend on where you live? Because if it's, like, I don't know, rural Alabama or something, just demographically, on average, that might be redder. But, like, you know, where I live, I just feel like the majority opinion is still blue. And, like, I can tell when I go home that, like, I have to, I don't have to self-censor. I can say whatever I want. But, like, it is very obvious that the open views are still more ultimately blue where I live. So that's something that kind of does surprise me.

And also, like, I understand a lot of she's arguing, but I do find a little bit frustrating that she's solely placing the blame on Trump and acting like this is a modern event when, like, I don't want to get really nerdy here, but I will. like social contingent, social control, you know, all the girls doing black squares for Black Lives Matter, everyone doing pronouns in bio, the mass amounts of people identifying different their gender identity because of, I don't want to say social pressure, but just, you know, the continued spreading of the view of gender being something on fixed, therefore causing more people to probably want to better define themselves or identify in a certain way. Like, this isn't exclusive to Trump. And like it's kind of human nature to want to do this or vibe shift because especially thinking of Irvin Guffman.

He was a social psychologist, former president of the American Sociological Association. And he wrote this book that I love called I believe the presentation of self in everyday life. And he actually argued he's very subtly influential this idea. I would say that he's not necessarily a household name, but this is a household idea of how, almost like the Roman theater, the masks we put on, we almost always are masking or changing ourselves, even unconsciously, even if we're not trying to, to appear differently to others. I mean, just think of how like we kind of show ourselves in different ways to other people. I am somewhat inclined to think, maybe there's a spectrum.

Maybe there's, you know, people that are consciously doing that or not. But like, it is human nature to change yourself or just how you behave in certain social situations. And I don't like social control or stuff like that. also it's not acceptable. I would agree. If men are truly saying just horrible, racist, sexist things, which, you know, people say those things, that's wrong. But I don't know. It's, there's also a right way to respond to things, too. And I have very strong views. And I found sometimes if we're getting a subtly intelligent, a philosophical view, like, you know, I can get very far if I just listen to people and then subtly respond in varying ways. I don't know. But it is still odd to me also because I very much experienced the opposite of like explicit social pressure to believe otherwise. But I don't know. That is something I wonder. So do you have any any thoughts then, Emma? You're listening to Flyover Features on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM.

I do think that it's definitely worth noting that we have this concept of locker room talk where it's like boys control. dialogue, whether it be in the political sphere or in the workforce or if you're younger in school, like high school college, even middle school. Something that we don't really address is the female equivalent of locker room talk. So as opposed to, for instance, my workplace feels kind of like a frat house. You know, I'm working with a lot of men. They make jokes all the time. They crack jokes. They're slightly sexist, stuff like that. I think the alternative to that is, is something that is probably worse in that we see the advent of HR culture, for instance. Just a very, very, yeah, feminine phenomenon. I think what is much more prevalent in our society

in the political sphere, the workplace, in any real world situation. really is the more female-minded sort of HR tendency to sort of surveil and, you know, nitpick and overcorrect and constantly try to avoid conflict and anything that might be deemed offensive. And I think when you go into the real world, it might be changing, for instance, in some small circles, like in the political administration. in D.C. right now, that's probably not the case in most places. But when you go to work in the corporate world, that is definitely the case. You are going to have to, you know, respect the authority of the HR matriarch in these situations. And I think that that tendency is a lot more authoritarian than

anything we're seeing from the locker room talk boys. Yeah. And it's hard for me to say that because I am outside of those circles. So to be honest, on average, I actually am sympathetic with her in dealing with that, whether there's just blatant sexism or disturbing things said about women in more right-wing circles. I say with my making a funny expression with my hand, because it's also like, well, I think you're antithetical to my understanding of conservatism if you have that view of people, Mr. But yeah, so it's kind of like, you know, I actually find myself, even if the specific political example she gives up, I'm inclined to be a little bit like fight back. on. I think she has a point. It is interesting, too, because she claims, like, you know, cultural

conservatism grows and girls are feeling a great pressure to fit in and, you know, the gender divide between more women voting for Kamala than Trump. But it's also odd because it's like, I don't know if I consider Trump culturally conservative, you know, or like when she talks about, and I have some takes on this, but like trad wife influencers and, you know, someday I will write an essay, for example, on how I think trad wives are in a lot of ways fundamentally anti-conservative because it's like, okay, if you freaking have an Instagram account, you are like more modern and telling more people how to live their lives in a controlling manner than anyone, including men, for like all of human history with this kind of focus on this sort of

bizarre image that is based on this modern medium that in itself was created with some odd, I think, unconscious worldviews or belief behind it. No, I think that makes sense. I think the trad wife trend, something I've noticed. just about it is that it tends to attract a lot of women who are looking for a certain type of man who they can't find. And the tendency for those women is to sort of nag men and say, this is what we demand for men. This is what we want. This is the kind of lifestyle we want. And you're being an incredibly imposing figure. And now I'm not, I'm not exactly criticizing the author of this article at all, because this is just, we've gone off the rails at this point, right? But we are sort of latching

onto this example. I think that the trad wife influencers are extremely pseudo-conservative. Oh, my word, they are. And honestly, you know, thank you, Naomi, because you're making us talk a lot. And that's a good thing. I am impressed by you, especially by you still being a high school student. But yeah, that's what bothers me. And I'm sorry, I reacted that much because I experienced that personally, but it does bother me that most of the women that are like super tradwife are 100% more nagging and telling people what to do in a way that bothers me than like I am and I'm pretty darn opinionated. Literal women. Yeah. They're more that way than liberal women. I know women than are more liberal and most of them I feel like are less annoying. Like there's this one gal. Oh, her name's Rachel

Wilson and like she is so aggressive in sharing her opinions and like telling other people including men what to do. And it's not even that she's just opinionated like I am and I'm not perfect. but it's like very much you have to have this opinion you must you must be much and it's like this is more nagging than like most people I know like this is way more nagging than like this gal who is more politically liberal is who's writing a very opinionated piece on Donald Trump like she's not saying this gal is not directly telling us I think you must like do this or die you know what I'm saying it's so frustrating um and yeah this is also an interesting piece to read as one might assume given by the fact that, you know, we might be more on the right and broadly speaking, we are.

So it is also interesting reading this piece from a more a gal who I identify, I would say, is more left-leaning and liberal. You know, it's like, hmm, what do we think about, you know, this piece as, you know, right-wing girls reading left-wing female gender-driven opinion article? You're listening to Flyover Features on Radio Free Hillsdale, 101.7 FM. I think it's also worth noting. There's actually a study that pertains exactly to what this article discusses. And basically, I'll try to explain it as briefly as possible, but it depicts the ideology gap between men and women in the United States. And it's on two axes. So one of the axes, the x-axis is time. And then the y-axis is just what percentage of each of the x-axis. And then the y-axis is just what percentage of each of the x-axis. these respective groups is liberal. And what's interesting about this graph is that it shows men very moderately trending right. And on the other hand, it shows women sort of always being more liberal than men for the most part, but then just shooting up and becoming extremely liberal. And so I think it's worth noting that men have sort of moved a little bit more gradually,

whereas women have just become extremely liberal. And so now they perceive men is more antagonistic to them when it's actually women who just underwent in an extremely short amount of time, a very significant shift in culture. Yeah, that's interesting. There's a lot of ways I feel like that could be interpreted also depending on one's personal views. You could also be like, well, men went insane with certain things, which is why we went to more left-wing views.

Now, that's very interesting. The gender divide is something to be talked about. And it's kind of intriguing to me as a more right-leaning gal who is not part of the left-leaning female statistic. Anyway, when she mentioned how 45% of girls, according to Pew Research Center, feel a great deal of pressure to fit in socially. And as cultural, conservative grows, as I said earlier, conservatism. That changes what fitting in means. And how girls women's at locker room talk risk exclusion to quilty article. And no one wants to hang out with the stickler, so no one wants to become here.

and therefore junival you know illiberalism lives on and have to be honest and say that's a pretty good argument but also that does seem like to me that is something that's generally been problems throughout time of wanting to fit in and having a different especially like i think for me as a christian you know as i've said this many times before you know i don't accept the world as it is to quote jacquil um you know the kingdom of god is different from the patterns of this world and i try to worship what I believe to be the God of the universe. And that means oftentimes going against the world, especially when scripture says that Satan is the prince of this earth. So I kind of vibe with her of like, I risk, you know, exclusion from maybe certain patterns that are popping up that

are not fully on board with. But, you know, I don't know. I do remember it was hard at public school. It was kind of funny because one of my friends would like mention how, you know, stops. She was polite about this. I just don't remember how she worded it, but, you know, stop swearing her. Why do you need to do that, you know, crassness of language. And then whenever friends would be like, are you Mormon? And she would say no.

And or like, I remember my dad once was talking to a like worker, you know, that he was doing a project with and he like dropped an F bomb. And my dad very loudly and firmly said, please do not use that language. That is not appropriate. Do not say that around my family.

And I was kind of thinking, you know, I wonder what he thought. Because obviously like you'd think a lot of people tend to get angry. But I've also learned that sometimes like, you know, I'm personally not as too clear about language. but like a lot of people are so not used to people actually having convictions or standing up

that a lot of times actually people aren't that mean they're just like almost intimidated or surprised or even respected you or don't know how to respond and I encounter that sometimes in DC too I would just you know mention Christian beliefs or my way of understanding men and women and it was almost like Christianity was so not the mainstream there a genuine Christianity. Republicans you can find them but actual like spiritual way of seeing things and that like people were almost like intimidated by me. It was kind of fun. But yeah, I, you know, so many people have reminded me that I never want to be anything like them. You know, and I try to respect and see that they reflect the image of God and that we find our being through better learning to serve and believe and follow him.

And, you know, that's just the life of vibe. And Naomi certainly has different views than I would on some things, but I think she seems to have strong convictions because even if she's from a more liberal area to point your own, you know, to share your own beliefs publicly in big newspapers, especially while still in high school, is brave and commend them. So I must, I must commend her for that. That's all we have time for today. You're listening to Liveer Features on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. I'm Emma and I'm here with Sophia.