Skinny Girl Walking Sideways

Confirmed 59,060

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About

Skinny Girl Walking Sideways, also known as Skinning Girl Walking Sideways or the Skinny Girl Sidestep, is a trend on TikTok started from a set of videos uploaded to the platform in early October 2021. The original video is from a Chinese TikToker who, in the video, struggles to get by a person walking by her on a sidewalk. She instead steps sideways between her and the building as a way to showcase how skinny she is. The video received ironic attention on the platform from TikTokers who began recreating her skinny sidestep in their own videos, as well as captioning the original video with text related to "skinny things" like eating a salad or asking for lettuce on a burger.

Origin

In early October 2021, TikToker^[1] @mnmnooxx0 uploaded a video of herself side-stepping past a person on a sidewalk. The sidestep she does acts as a way for her to show the viewer how skinny she is. The exact number of plays and likes that the video received is unknown because @mnmnooxx0 deleted the video at some point in mid-October.^[2]

The earliest known repost of the original video was uploaded by TikTok^[3] account @willkime on October 11th, 2021. The video (shown below, left) received roughly 2 million plays and 56,400 likes over the course of one month. @mnmnooxx0 also reuploaded the video herself on October 22nd, 2021,^[4] and it includes the original audio. The video (shown below, right) received roughly 123,100 plays and 3,500 likes over the course of two weeks.

Spread

@mnmnooxx0 uploaded a second video which also received attention in October. The video shows her side-stepping between an escalator and a wall in a mall. This video she also took down in mid-October but re-uploaded it as well on October 22nd, 2021.^[5] The video (shown below) received roughly 77,900 plays and 2000 likes over the course of two weeks.

In mid-October, @mnmnooxx0's videos began appearing on people's FYPs as they received more and more attention. TikToker^[6] khaby.lame uploaded a stitch with the escalator video on October 9th, 2021. The TikTok (shown below, left) received roughly 45.9 million plays and 5.1 million likes over the course of one month. TikToker^[7] @yoleendadong uploaded a stitch with the escalator video on October 15th, 2021. The TikTok (shown below, right) received roughly 4.1 million plays and 647,100 likes over the course of one month.

On October 18th, 2021, TikToker^[8] @ethanp0iss0n uploaded the first known ironic copycat of the skinny sidestep. The video (shown below) received roughly 2.9 million plays and 594,800 likes over the course of one month.

After the above TikTok was posted, @mnmnooxx0 reacted to the attention she received by deleting all of her videos. A TikTok posted by TikToker^[2] @nmillz1 showed this clearly. The video (shown below) received roughly 3.9 million plays and 865,800 likes and was posted on October 19th, 2021.

However, enough TikTokers had seen the video that users began referencing the video and the skinny sidestep within their own content. For instance, on October 25th, 2021, TikToker^[9] @arielomggg overlayed text on the escalator video reading, "Me after getting lettuce on my cheese burger." The video (shown below) received roughly 23,400 plays and 1,900 likes over the course of a week and a half.

More and more TikTokers recreated the skinny sidestep in their own videos going into November 2021. As of November 11th, 2021, the TikTok sound^[10] used in the original video has roughly 10,700 videos.