Alex vs. Alix and the ‘Girls are Fighting’ Narrative

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard about the long-running feud between Alex Cooper and Alix Earle. 

If not, a 101: Alex Cooper is the founder of the wildly popular podcast Call Her Daddy; Alix Earle is a mega-influencer. Cooper signed Earle to host a podcast on the network she created, the Unwell Network. But people quickly picked up on the fact that there seemed to be a rift between the two women…and recently, Cooper confirmed the feud in a social media post.

And in doing so, she kind of set the internet on fire. But this isn’t about their feud, because ultimately, we have no idea what actually went down. What this is about is the cultural fascination with a "catfight". A female frenemy story. With two women who are more successful and powerful than the world believes women have any right to be going after one another.

It’s not just Alex vs. Alix proves this. Recently, people began buzzing about a potential feud between reality stars Kaitlyn Bristowe and Jessi Draper. Bristowe immediately poured water on the flames to show that this feud was actually completely fabricated, and in doing so, she (correctly) pointed out that the public is constantly “feral” and “foaming at the mouth” to find a fight between two women. And you know what? Yeah. She’s right.

Think about all the female frenemy stories we’ve been fed. Think of the chokehold they’ve had on the masses. Even in cases like this one, where there’s not much there there, the public is just transfixed by stories of women fighting…and it all goes back to the way we as a society love to gleefully take down a woman, any woman.

And when we get to pit two women against each other? Well, that's practically our national pastime. Even if we don’t have all the information (in cases like Alex v. Alix, we really know almost nothing), we run with what we have, we spin narratives, and we assign blame and labels. This cultural fascination doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon…but isn’t our energy better used for more important things?

So if you were looking for my take on who is the hero and who is the villain, you won’t find that here. What you will find is the question: What are we really accomplishing with this never-ending string of female rivalries that turn into entertainment?