Essex Girls

I grew up in a small town in Essex, so technically yes, I am an ‘Essex Girl’, however I have a major issue with the stereotype that goes along with it. Not only is there a stereotype, but this term is actually in the dictionary now, the Cambridge English Dictionary defines ‘Essex Girl’ as “an insulting word for a young woman who dresses and behaves in a way that attracts attention, and shows that she is not intelligent or stylish, thought of as typical of some people from the English county of Essex”. A similarly disrespectful definition used to be found in the Oxford English Dictionary, although this was removed late last year.

According to a quick Google search, in 2019 approximately 940,276 women lived in the county of Essex, and if the dictionary is to be believed this nearly 100,000 women are all “not intelligent or stylish”, various other definitions call the ‘Essex Girl’ “promiscuous” and “materialistic”. None of these attributes are particularly flattering, in fact they’re completely insulting and perpetuate a misogynistic stereotype. The idea that a woman must be stupid and vulgar just because she comes from a certain area is ridiculous, are there any other counties that have stereotypes this strong? Has anyone heard of a “Hampshire Girl”? No, I didn’t think so. In that case we could go so far as to critique the stereotype in terms of classism, is it somehow routed in the image of a working class, ‘Chavvy’ society in Essex? Wherever this stereotype comes from it is not acceptable in the twenty-first century to be grouping women together, assuming they’re all the same because they’re from a certain place, have we not yet realised as a society that women are complex individuals, and that this goes for ‘Essex Girls’ too?

I won’t go so far as to compare the treatment of ‘Essex Girls’ to other forms of discrimination, because frankly that would be very dramatic, however it is still a problem, albeit a comparatively minor one. Even when I moved to Surrey for university, I encountered the stereotype of an ‘Essex Girl’. Most conversations in Freshers’ Week go along the lines of “Hi! I’m ____” “Hey, I’m _____. What do you study?” “I do_____, you?” “Oh cool, I’m doing _____, where are you from?” and so on. So, when it came to tell people that I’m from Essex, it was often met with a laugh and some comment akin to “oh but you don’t seem like you’re from Essex”, meaning they expected someone with orange fake tan, sharpie eyebrows, and a strong accent. I have none of that list, not that we should be judging anyone that does – that would be their choice, but the fact that people remain shocked that I’m from Essex because I don’t fit in with their preconceived idea of an ‘Essex Girl’ is absurd.

‘Essex Girls’ are obviously a diverse set of women and cannot all be described in the exact same way, frankly it would be weird if all 100,000 women in Essex were exactly the same. I personally think that the ‘Essex Girl’ stereotype is strongly linked to the misogynistic idea that women are either pretty or clever, never both. Women in films and TV are often viewed as ugly while they’re being academic or professional, then they take off their glasses, brush their hair and miraculously now they’re gorgeous. Or they can only be seen as smart and ugly or pretty but dumb, think of the female characters in The Big Bang Theory, Amy is incredibly clever but is seen as the slightly dumpy, nerdy looking one, while Penny is pretty and blonde, but the others all see her as stupid. I haven’t watched The Big Bang Theory in years so I’m in no position to criticise – who knows, these characters could be completely different by now – however this show is only one of many examples of this kind of stereotypical portrayals of women.

It seems that because TOWIE got popular the entire world now assumes that all women in Essex must be like Gemma Collins (I’ll be honest, I’ve never watched the show so she’s the only woman I can name from it). I have nothing against Gemma Collins, in fact I bumped into her in Tesco’s once (if you needed proof that I am in fact from Essex…), but she is one of that 100,000 women, and plenty of us so called ‘Essex Girls’ are nothing like her.

Essentially, I think people need to stop stereotyping women, and expecting us to be like one another because we may have a few things in common, when in reality women are complex individuals. Also, can we please remove ‘Essex Girl’ from the dictionary, if nothing else it is rude, but worse than that it is completely misogynistic and out of date in the twenty-first century.