How ‘Disaster Girls’ Are Cashing in on the Digital Economy
Young women online are embracing a lifestyle of luxury and ease backstopped by financial support from men.
Illustration: Yue Zhang for Bloomberg
Rachel O’Dwyer’s book Tokens: The Future of Money in the Age of the Platform (Verso Books, 2023) described an online economy spilling over into real life. It’s a place where cold, hard money is replaced by gift cards, wish lists, phone credits, bitcoin and even emoji. The implications are vast, driving rapid changes in banking, politics and the way we live today. In this Next Chapter, O’Dwyer explains how some young women are molding their identity to profit from this non-cash digital world.
@Aliyahwears (Aliyah Jasmine Wan) is a stay-at-home girlfriend with more than 200,000 followers on TikTok and lucrative brand collaborations with the likes of Ritual multivitamins and South Korean skincare company Medicube. Recent posts include “When he gets you your dream fall bag as an ‘I’m sorry I’ve been working SM [so much] gift.’” Several others feature her “bored in the house” before remembering the pool, car or Pilates machine her boyfriend bought her; Wan steps outside to inspect the luxury item, before returning indoors to perch on a pristine white couch. “Why does this remind me of the Sims?” someone comments under one post.