Bring Back Ugg Boots

Removing the guilt, from my not-so guilty pleasures

When I think of the concept of hidden guilty pleasures, literally anything pink, One Direction and Ugg boots are what come to my nostalgic little mind. Overwhelmingly, as a woman, the pleasures I want to hide are stereotypically ‘feminine’ items in society. It took a lot of unlearning, retraining and a lot of conversations with friends to learn this is an external product of misogyny and classism, not me wanting to fit in with the new people in my lecture hall.

I would characterise myself as a strongly average person in regard to social media, fitting right in the mould: I probably spend too much time on it, but I wouldn’t say I’m obsessed with likes like many of our generation. Equally and honestly, I definitely couldn’t be one of those people who has no social media at all, and I do still care to some extent what people think of me. However, despite all that, both consciously and unconsciously, I filter what I put online and allow people to see - I am definitely guilty of wanting to be the ‘cool girl’ and whilst I know this concept is deeply problematic and rooted in misogyny, this image has put those cool girls on a pedestal and the inner people pleaser in me is drawn to it. It puzzles me, I cannot pinpoint when I entrenched this so deeply and rejected all the feminine aspects of my personality that I loved ever so much as a teenager, labelling them guilty pleasures and not letting them see the light of my Instagram story.

As a woman, I've spent far too long being ashamed of things and I'm not going to do it anymore

The issue with relegating whole swathes of likes as guilty pleasures because they’re typically associated with femininity is that it delegitimises the wants, likes, and needs of half of the world’s population and sends a dangerous message to the social media attached youth of today. When we think of One Direction fans, we probably think of a screaming teenage girl and write her off as a bit hysterical and over-emotional. Yet, when we think of a fan of say Fleetwood Mac, ABBA, or Nirvana, you probably think of them as a chilled out ‘cool girl’ or a ‘regular’ guy. These bands all had pretty equal cult followings and status, and meaning can be found in all of their music. They all had their fair share of ‘heart-throb’ members who dominated celebrity news in their prime. So why is it only liking One Direction that I classify as a guilty pleasure and put my Spotify on private mode when I listen to? It’s because I’ve internalised the idea that these are a silly girlish band for young girls whose opinions don’t matter and who couldn’t possibly have any outlook or opinions that are worthwhile. Be honest - unfortunately you agree.

So, I wondered what else I would consider a guilty pleasure for myself. Made in Chelsea, bad teenage movies and watching Peppa Pig came to mind. But, when I thought more about these, I realised that I use all of these as methods of escapism from my crazy busy life, so why do I class them as guilty pleasures and hide them from my peers? It’s because living under capitalism in the western world and being someone who is in an academic space, I’ve been conditioned to think that doing anything that isn’t ‘productive’ or isn’t educating me, doesn’t have value. Thus, these ‘trash’ TV shows and movies that I watch, along with my love for long baths and my time spent on TikTok are deemed less valuable. These feelings of guilt towards doing these things are further compounded by them being associated with children, who capitalism and academia write off, because they don’t contribute to them.

Over the last year or so, I’ve found myself wanting to reintroduce all the things I wrote off as girly or ‘chavvy’ when I was younger in order to rebel against the internalised misogyny and classism I’ve absorbed. I want to wear floaty dresses and I’m damn glad Uggs are coming back. But I want to do all this my way, without being written off as a silly-girlish-emotional person. So, while I may still class occasionally watching Peppa Pig or listening to the Glee soundtrack as a bit embarrassing and something that I wouldn’t necessarily put on Instagram or tell someone I’d just met, I’m going to shed the concept of a ‘guilty pleasure’ for the future. As a woman, I’ve spent far too long being ashamed of things and I’m not going to do it anymore.

Lauren Lilley