I’m cancelling rat girl summer

Rat girl summer is a typically absurd TikTok meme that most women –indeed, most humans – born before 1990 would probably struggle to understand. But it’s a thing. And here’s what it means, according to the Washington Post: it is ‘a TikTok movement that emphasizes living like a rat: scurrying around the streets at all hours of the day and night, snacking to your heart’s delight, and going to places you have no business going to’. After a content creator called Lola Kolade encouraged followers to ‘embrace the rodent energy’ in June, #ratgirlsummer has been shared over 25 million times on TikTok. 

Last Friday saw the first in-person meeting of the ‘mischief’ of rat girls at a big Brooklyn party. Rat girls as far afield as the home counties were disappointed not to be able to attend. Liza Blackman, 26, of Bedfordshire, said the hashtag appealed to her because, in the cost of living crisis, ‘like rats, we are foraging for whatever food we can get our grabby little hands on’.