The popular photo editing app, VSCO, has taken its place at Pleasant Valley Junior High with the creation of a new club focused on the app and its aesthetic.
VSCO is a social media and photo editing platform originally released in 2011. The app allows users to have greater customization over their photos. While its features make it attractive to photographers, it has also grabbed the attention of teenage girls. While VSCO does have a large male user base, it appears far less prominent than the female user base.
The app has led to a new stereotype of teenage girls labeled “VSCO girls”. This group has been characterized by a few things. A VSCO girl “Wears oversized t-shirts or sweatshirt with Nike shorts. . . She can’t leave home without a scrunchie and her favorite car is a jeep,” according to Urban Dictionary.
The junior high club was inspired by the “VSCO girls” trend. Seventh-grader Bria Martell went to the first meeting on Sept. 18. “The club was called ‘VSCO Girls Club’ originally, but they’re naming it something different in case of copyright issues. At the meeting, we made stickers for our hydroflasks and next week we’re going to make scrunchies,” Martell said.
“We were supposed to meet in a classroom, but so many people showed up that we had to go to the cafeteria,” Martell stated. Another attendee of the club, eighth-grader Cole Halupnik, had his own comments. “The club was inclusive to all genders. It was about half boys, but a lot of people were there just to mock ‘VSCO girls,’” Halupnik said.
In some ways, the phrase “VSCO girl” has become an insult. It is yet another example of how society often uses sexist comments without a second thought. “A ‘VSCO girl’ is just a stereotypical teenage girl,” Halupnik added. Many parallels can be drawn between today’s “VSCO girls” and “Tumblr girls” of years past.
To Martell, however, being called a “VSCO girl” isn’t an insult. “‘VSCO girl’ to me means keeping up with trends, shoes, clothes, and more,” she said.
“Another integral part of the ’VSCO girl’ lifestyle is being environmentally conscious,” wrote an NBC journalist. The trend has many different aspects, giving opposers many things to attack, despite the trend’s good intentions.
While some use the new junior high club for mockery, others find joy and positivity in the experience. The club brings people together who share a common interest. Clubs and other extracurricular groups create positive outlets and opportunities for students, and the junior high’s VSCO club is no different.
