Girly Teengirl

About

Girly Teengirl is a minor character in the animated series SpongeBob SquarePants. A teenage sponge who moved to Bikini Bottom from Farawayville, Girly Teengirl gets mistaken for SpongeBob by Pearl and denied entrance to her slumber party. In April 2023, the character achieved virality on Twitter in various discussions and memes.

Origin

On November 28th, 2008, episode 110a "Slumber Party" of season six of the animated series SpongeBob SquarePants premiered.^[1] In one scene of the episode, a female teenage sponge with a similar appearance to SpongeBob arrives at Pearl's slumber party. The sponge introduces herself as Girly Teengirl and says she recently moved from Farawayville. Pearl mistakes Girly Teengirl for SpongeBob in disguise and drives her away, with the guests pelting her with tomatoes as the real SpongeBob arrives.

On April 3rd, 2023, Twitter^[2] user @modernjunkiez posted the clip to the website, commenting, "THIS CLIP BEEN MAKIN MY HEAD HURT SINCE LAST NIGHT." The post gained over 40.8 million views, 15,800 retweets and 155,000 likes in one week (shown below).

Spread

The tweet was followed by multiple quote tweets in which users humorously commented on it, including accusations of hate crimes put against Pearl. For example, on April 5th, 2023, Twitter^[3] user @KINGGCHUNN quote tweeted the original tweet, writing, "Misgendered her, jumped her, puller her hair, kicked her out and made her cry. Is this not a hate crime?!?" The tweet (shown below) garnered over 9,800 retweets and 106,500 likes in five days.

Other users defended Pearl in quote tweets and comments. For example, on April 4th, 2023, Twitter^[4] user @mlmferdinand quote tweeted the original tweet, writing, "who shows up to a sleepover unannounced when you don't know anyone there." The tweet (shown below) gained over 7,100 retweets and 90,800 likes in six days.

The debate was followed by a humorous fandom forming around the character in the following week, with users dedicating memes, fan art and other fan labor to Girly Teengirl. For example, on April 7th, Twitter^[5] user @spucynocdles created a Miles Morales Running From Miguel O'Hara meme with the characters that gained over 1,100 retweets and 7,500 likes in three days (shown below, left). Also that day, Twitter^[6] user @fantazticcc suggested a humorous theory about the character having been murdered by Mrs. Puff (shown below, right).

The viral popularity led to the rediscovery of the Twitter^[7] gimmick account @GirlyTeengirl, defunct since August 2009, with its tweets being widely shared.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References