Some TikTok trends are silly and fun — like “holy airball!” — but others are downright concerning. Parents of teen and tween girls are sounding the alarm about a worrying new trend that one mom calls “grooming disguised as girl power.” If you have young girls at home, this is one you’ll want to be aware of immediately.
What Is the ‘Yes You Can’ Trend?
“This ‘yes you can trend’ isn’t just cringe, it’s dangerous,” TikToker Jill (@gracefullgrit) shared this week. Teens and tweens, she revealed, are posting videos on TikTok saying things like, “Can you sneak out at 2 a.m. to meet a guy twice your age? Yes, yes you can.” Or, “Can you get in his car though your gut says no? Yes, yes you can.”
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“This isn’t empowerment. This is not cute,” Jill says in the video. “This is straight up predator bait.”
Apparently, these videos have millions of views with comments “full of girls cheering each other on, romanticizing risky behavior and literally encouraging one another to ignore every red flag,” she continues.
In the caption, Jill adds, “This isn’t a warning. It’s a wake-up call.”
Search “Yes You Can” on TikTok and you’ll find several videos from young girls promoting problematic behavior. Like “I can’t fw a 2013,” which either refers to someone born in 2013 (which would make them about 12-years-old now) or refers to a 13-year-old dating a 20-year-old (20/13).
How Parents Feel About This Trend
This trend is extremely worrying. Encouraging others to engage in dangerous behavior against their own gut instincts is not OK, and the fact that the videos are drawing supportive and positive comments from other teen and tween girls proves how much the trend is resonating with these girls. Parents are rightly alarmed about this.
“This is why I don’t let my kids have any type of social media,” one concerned mom wrote. Another commented, “Can you get grounded for your whole life? Yes! Yes you can!”
Still, others pointed out in the comments that these type of videos are “rage bait” or “satire.” Videos like these are intended to draw comments, even if they are criticisms, to increase views. This, in turn, can make the creators more money if their TikToks are monetized. Still, not every teen or tween is going to realize that this is intended to make people mad online and might take it as encouragement for doing these risky behaviors.
Many Teens Don’t Like It Either
Some teens are calling out this behavior. Like one girl who wrote, “as a 2007 being 17, and also being a 14-15 yr old making thirst traps, we should not be enabling this trend I feel like its calling to creeps and allowing the younger generations to overly sexualize themselves.”
Another girl posted that the trend “needs to stop.” They continued, “Like dawg im 13 and all I see are pick me ahh people doing it I agree that it’s weird and their literally promoting pedo but we’re NOT ALL LIKE THAT.”
Girls Are at Risk
Teen girls are already vulnerable to dangerous behavior. A CDC report found that nearly 3 in 5 US teen girls felt persistently sad or hopeless in 2021, with nearly 1 in 3 seriously considering attempting suicide; 1 in 5 reported experiencing sexual violence in the past year; and more than 1 in 10 reported being forced to have sex in the past. All of these numbers are up compared to prior years.
According to RAINN, 1 in 9 girls (and 1 in 20 boys) under the age of 18 experience sexual abuse or assault, with 82% of all victims under 18 female. Additionally, females ages 16-19 are four times more likely than the general population to be victims of rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault.
The last thing teen girls need is a trend that encourages them to fall for dangerous and abusive behavior, whether it’s intended to be a joke or not.
Before you go, see what these celebs have said about the teachers who inspired them.
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