Slut-shaming matters because when people are dismissed as sluts, hoes, and thots, they are denied care and compassion as human beings and in a variety of situations, including when they are sexually harassed, sexually assaulted, victimized by image-based sexual abuse ("revenge porn" and "deepfakes"), and need an abortion.
Let's talk about the Barbiecore dorm-décor trend
The Latest on Slut-Shaming + Bodily Autonomy
November 18, 2025
If you’re in college or know someone in college, you’ve probably seen the TikToks. College students—primarily women, often in Southern universities—arrive on their campuses with more than the clothes, notebooks, twin XL sheets, and posters that generations of young people before them lugged. Over the last decade, students have been bringing peel-and-stick wallpaper, upholstered headboards, matching curtains, rugs, throw pillows, makeup tables, and ottomans. (If you haven’t seen these TikToks and want to dive in, start by searching for #dormmakeover and #collegedormdecor.)
In viral reveal videos, students show what their room looked like before and after they transformed it into a stylish, expensive haven. Pink, pastels, and ruffles dominate the aesthetic, especially when White students drive the narrative. We don’t see male or nonbinary students on social media investing nearly as much money and effort in their decorating efforts.
In some cases, parents hire professional decorators, spending as much as $20,000 for the eight months their daughter lives in their dorm room. For students decorating solo, this University of Alabama student helpfully shares where she bought her rug, artwork, bedding, lamps, chairs, and mirror.
On the face of it, whether or not a student brings gilt photo frames and extravagant lamps to their dorm room may seem like a trivial issue and not worthy of serious discussion. Nevertheless, I am concerned about the Barbiecore décor trend. To my eyes, it appears that students and their parents are succumbing to excessive commercial pressures, vastly overspending for a temporary space, and that helicopter parenting has reached new heights of absurdity.
But what I worry about even more is how this trend appears to dovetail with expectations about what it means to be a woman. Research shows that many women of all ages believe they must present themselves–their home and their body–as sites of “effortless perfection.” Meanwhile, in our culture of slut-shaming, young women are lauded for appearing to abstain from sexual behavior, even while they’re simultaneously told they should look hot and sexy.
Could this ultra-feminine dorm aesthetic reinforce the culture of slut-shaming by suggesting that "good" girls and women are childlike and asexual?
I also have been speculating that parents want their daughters to live in a space evoking girlish, asexualized innocence as an unconscious coping mechanism of sorts because they know that 13% of students experience rape or sexual assault, with rates even higher for undergraduate women (26.4%) and students with nonconforming social identities (21%), according to RAINN.
Unsure if I was overthinking this, I reached out to someone with answers: a resident advisor at a medium-sized private university on the east coast whom I met during my research for Sexy Selfie Nation who is exceedingly thoughtful about issues of self-representation and sexual objectification. Biracial and queer, she is a graduate student who also worked as a resident advisor at her undergraduate institution.
In our conversation, the resident advisor (who asked to remain anonymous to protect the privacy of the students she oversees) agreed that many young women feel pressured to follow a narrow script of what femininity should look like, which is heterosexist and overemphasizes becoming a well-groomed wife and mother while underemphasizing intellectual and other valuable traits. But she also shared optimism about the capacity of students to critique the ideologies they’ve grown up with. Here is an excerpt.
Leora: I love home décor and believe there’s nothing inherently wrong with a hyper-feminine design aesthetic. Yet I can’t help but notice that this aesthetic aligns with an ideology that positions women students both as future wives obsessed with creating picture-perfect homes and as little girls who are presexual.
Resident Advisor: I’ve seen a lot of dorm décor over the last few years, at both my large public undergraduate institution and my now medium-sized graduate institution. I agree that dorm decoration is a big trend, and I want to point out that it’s related to the fact that student housing provides lucrative revenue for universities. People need to know the context—that universities themselves are behind this trend, which encourages private companies to reach out to students and their parents to sell them dorm-room products.
Also, I have seen a notable aesthetic difference with sorority dorm rooms. The difference is like night and day in terms of the way they’re decorated. For sororities in particular, where a frilly look dominates, I see a gender performance being enacted.
There’s a particular feminine aesthetic that is also childish, so I am seeing a fetishization of girlhood similar to how mainstream media has generally represented young women.
Do you think this emphasis on gender performance could be a reaction to current cultural and political messages about “tradwives,” being a wife and mother above all else?
Yes, and there are celebrities like Sabrina Carpenter who subvert that ideology but also seem to play into it at the same time.
Are you concerned that this trend can be harmful to young women in that they may feel pressured not just to decorate their rooms in a girly way but to behave in a restrictive way?
That is true for some students. But I’ve had the benefit of watching students develop from the time they come in as first-year students through graduation. They tend to arrive with certain values and socialization that was not in their control as a result of the household they grew up in. Once they settle into college life, which tends to be a more diverse space, a good number start making their own decisions.
The reality is that this is a sexist society, and many young women are told that their value mostly comes from bearing children and having a husband, and they are socialized to think they should become a homemaker. As a young woman myself, this disturbs me. At the same time, I also get to witness a number of young women as they discover alternative ways of being and further develop their critical thinking skills.
I’m really encouraged to hear you say this! So is a pink duvet just a pink duvet? And are there any goth or messy or undecorated rooms? Because on TikTok, I’m not seeing anything like that.
There’s more diversity in dorm room aesthetics than you see on TikTok. Social media algorithms distort that reality. I actually see many different setups, many of them quirky and a fair number totally undecorated.
But I do think that what’s trending matters because that is what is being pushed on us. I agree with you that we need to pay attention to what goes viral because students are influenced by those trends, which can feed into sexist beliefs.
I’m curious if you think there could be a connection between decorating this private space and confronting the frightening reality that undergraduate women are at heightened risk of sexual assault on campus.
Women on campus, especially in their first semester, face a real risk of sexual assault. Unfortunately, some of the parents who decorate their children’s room also help their daughters get fake IDs and bring alcohol to campus, which is against the law in the US if you're under 21 and does not help with the problem of sexual assault. I’ve actually had to tell parents to take the alcohol back home with them.
Key takeaways
On the negative side: Many young women receive mixed messages that it's okay to drink underage, but they should sleep in a frothy duvet that would look appropriate in a ten-year-old’s room. The culture of slut-shaming tells girls and young women they should appear sexy... yet be asexual.
On the positive side: Just because teachings are ubiquitous does not mean that all people accept them. To set up young people of all genders for success, we need to ensure they receive education in critical-thinking skills.