This reality TV cast are arguing over what it means to be 'a girl's girl'. They're missing the point.

Five words will send a shiver down any woman's spine, and they've taken over the latest season of Love Island Australia.

"She's not a girl's girl."

Chills, right?

On recent episodes of the reality dating show, the OG women in the villa have declared that the two bombshells — model Boston and electrician Mia — are not welcome in their girlie friendship group based on their behaviour with the villa's men.

These women are *dun dun* not being girl's girls. Cue: shock, horror, gasps, fainting.

You see in 2025, there's no greater insult. To be a girl's girl is the ultimate antithesis to the pick-me girl, a girl who craves the validation of men so badly, she will step over any woman to get it.

Watch a controversial moment from Love Island UK. Post continues after video.

It all kicked off on the bombshells' second night in the villa. After receiving frosty treatment from the other women, Mia and Boston vented to the guys that they hadn't felt welcomed by the women, which is, umm… very true.

Then Mick — yep, not a girl, very much a boy — decided to get involved by telling the OG women that they weren't welcoming Boston and Mia.

"We've tried talking to them and they didn't want to come over," Sharn replied. If this sounds a lot like high school, you'd be right.

And this was enough to bring back the 'not a girl's girl' allegations, with the women livid that Boston and Mia had confided in the boys about girl drama. How very dare they speak to the only people in the villa actually, well speaking to them!!

Anyways, it all came to a head as Isabel ripped into Mia. "If you've got something to say, just say it to us now," Izzy snapped. It was a bit much, hey.

@loveislandau

Isabel is speaking, we repeat, Isabel is speaking. LoveIslandAU | Stream free on @‌9Now

♬ original sound - LoveIslandAU - LoveIslandAU

Each time Mia tried to defend herself, Isabel would tell her to let her finish her, well… lecture about being a girl's girl.

"I just sat there and watched her tell me like to, 'Shut up, I'm talking'," Mia reflected in her confessional. "We're getting grilled by the girls just for existing."

The scene has copped a lot of criticism on social media. "CEOs of girl's girls… very disappointing," read one TikTok comment.

Isabel has since written on her business account that the edit of this episode didn't quite reflect what happened. "I am just as rattled as everyone else! Mia and I literally hugged and laughed it off immediately after I finished talking," she wrote on TikTok.

I'm sure there was a lot that wasn't shown, but what was portrayed was these women excusing the bad behaviour of men — again and again — and blaming these women. All in the spirit of being a girl's girl.

Isabel said on the episode that Mick, aka the cause of the argument, was not to blame because the 'girls must have said something to the boys'. Earlier in the episode, the women (again) got mad at the bombshells because Boston was taking photos with Ross, even though he had initiated the photo.

In this girl's girl world, the boys are seemingly never to blame. Imagine that.

So what is a girl's girl, exactly? The term exploded on TikTok in 2023 and has since become an enforced part of the online lexicon among young women.

The idea of not being a girl's girl has parallels with being a 'mean girl'. As evoked in the movie Mean Girls, it's all part of the complex web that is 'the rules of feminism!'

In its purest definition, the concept of being a "girl's girl" is viewing other women as allies rather than rivals — rejecting the patriarchal idea that women must compete with each other for male attention or in their careers.

It's a sentiment best captured in Madeleine Albright's address, which stated, "There's a special place in hell for women who don't help other women."

On TikTok, many women share how they embrace the term girl's girl as a way to celebrate the wholesome similarities women share, as a direct response to the internalised misogynistic rhetoric from women who say they're "not like other girls".

The term is often associated with actively calling out misogynistic behaviour and standing up for women who are being mistreated or put down.

But these positive interpretations are not often applied when the concept surfaces on reality TV.

@laurenthelolife

#stitch with @Sierra They really be swearing they ate with that line! I like being like other girls stinkalink 👎🏽 we’re girl’s girls over here!

♬ original sound - Lauren W.

On this year's Married at First Sight, a big topic of contention was whether Carina Mirabile was being a good friend to Jamie Marinos, who proudly considered herself a 'girl's girl'.

In the case of Jamie, she demanded blind loyalty from her friends. Despite genuine friendships being improved with constructive criticism and healthy boundaries, being a girl's girl overrode this need.

On the latest season of Selling The OC, the women argued over whether telling one woman the other's boyfriend had cheated was in keeping with the girl's girl code.

On this year's Love Island USA season, Chelley Bissainthe accused Huda Mustafa of not being a girl's girl for flirting with her partner in a challenge. Every season on Love Is Blind, whether a woman is a girl's girl always rears its head. On the 2024 season, Jess Vestal declared to fans that Sarah Ann was not a girl's girl for getting in between a popular couple.

These instances were really just examples of being a bad friend — rather than examples of defiling some unspoken sacred girl code.

Whether a woman is a girl's girl often pops up in broader pop culture. From Taylor Swift and Blake Lively to Ariana Grande and Angelina Jolie, these women have long endured online discourse based on their perceived actions that they're 'not a girl's girl'.

Taylor Swift has long been considered 'not a girl's girl'. Image: Getty.

On the flip-side, you have beloved gymnastic duo, Jordan Chiles and Jade Carey, who pride themselves on being two girl's girls.

"I'm a girl's girl, so anytime that I feel like somebody needs flowers, I'm going to give them. It just makes me feel like I brought light into their day," Chiles told People.

The concept sees little sign of falling out of favour.

On a recent episode of the new HBO Max series, I Love LA, the concept was explored in an episode literally titled 'Girl's Girl'. In Lena Dunham's Too Much, Emily Ratajkowski played the ultimate girl's girl when Wendy confided in Jessica about her petty grievances with their shared ex-boyfriend.

But in reality TV, the term is more often used to shame and ostracise other women, rather than strengthen any potential sisterhood — it is used to divide and disempower. It renders friendship conditional and rarely considers nuance, context or circumstance (like maybe, she was just being a jerk!!)

In the case of Isabela, she's been weaponising the term 'girl's girl' in the villa while actively excluding and competing against women — to be a girl's girl should mean the opposite.

Of course, there are no 'boy's boys'. Boys will just be boys, after all.

When it comes to 'not being a girl's girl' in the reality TV space, the accusations often apply more to the accuser than to the accused.

And that's just the rules of feminism.

Feature image: Nine.