The hashtag #mascaratrend invades TikTok and the reason is incredible
The latest trend on the social networking site frequented mainly by the very young was created by young people to talk freely about sexuality without being kicked off the platform. No one can ban GenZ.
Although characterised by the hashtag #mascaratrend, there is no talk of beauty or make-up. Rather, the videos that have been invading TikTok in recent times with this hashtag are actually about sexuality.
Of happy and unhappy relationships, of long and satisfying relationships, but also of toxic ones, even touching on the subject of violence.
Mascaratrend: no, we're not talking about make-up
The latest trend on the social network frequented mainly by the very young, in short, is for GenZ to talk freely about sexuality without being banned from the platform, whose policy prohibits the publication of sexually explicit content, pornography or nude images, with the aim of keeping TikTok 'welcoming and safe'.
But for Generation Z, the social is a safe space precisely because topics that struggle to find space on other socials are dealt with to a greater extent. Sexuality in the lead.
The code language for talking about sexuality
But why the word 'mascara'? Gen Z, as we know, is a disruptive generation, capable of subverting paradigms anchored in the past.
It is to their credit that they have brought interesting and difficult topics to light, sensitising adults to listen and share.
And so, in the new code language, boys with the term 'mascara wand' refer to their partner's penis. While with 'lip gloss' to the vagina.
Mascaratrend, to tell each other intimately
And so it all becomes clearer when you listen to the talk in the videos with the hashtag #mascaratrend. "My mascara is very beautiful, it just disappears sometimes and I can't tell if I've lost it. It still makes me feel beautiful."
"I had found the best mascara ever but now it has changed and made my lashes fall out. I don't know if I can trust another mascara." Tales that sound bizarre when heard like this, but which evidently have no correlation with the make-up product.
Space also for special themes
Beyond, however, those who recount their typical teenage experiences, the same hashtag is also used as a form of denunciation and liberation. That is to say, girls and women above all, but also men, use the mascara metaphor to talk about the sexual abuse they have suffered and about toxic and unhealthy relationships.
Algorithm doesn't stop GenZ
Secret language is a very common way for GenZ to communicate what at first glance may seem a trivial issue, but which instead conceals much deeper meanings.
The Washington Post, for example, speaks of algospeak, i.e. a language made specifically to circumvent certain rigidities of the social algorithms that for the most part penalise content dealing with topics such as sex.
But the guys certainly don't let an algorithm stop them, showing that human intelligence can still do something interesting.
