The Girl Crew Phenomenon

A few months back I was working a late night and on my break I was flicking through Stellar magazine. That's when I came across an article on Girl Crew and realised I knew the girl who started it. I can't say I  know her well enough that I'll be sharing some of her winnings when she hits the big time but I am sure she would stop to say hello if she saw me in the street.

So if you are unfamiliar with Girl Crew, here's a quick introduction. It was started by Elva Carri because she felt her group of friends was too small and one night she wanted to go out dancing but none of her friends did. So she set up a Tinder profile and changed her sex to male and changed the profile photo so it told other women she was female and looking for some friends to go dancing with. From there it has spiralled and women all around the country and indeed beyond are using Girl Crew to meet new people or to find a friend to accompany them on a walk, go for coffee or to a gig when their own friends wont.

By the time I started reading about it, it had well and truly taken off and I will admit I was intrigued by the whole idea. As an adult it becomes increasingly more difficult to  make more friends. Most people make them through work and that in itself can be nerve wracking, trying to go from a chat on your coffee break to actually meeting outside of work. I know that for myself I have definitely felt a void since college finished and we all went our separate ways. I still have friends back home and I have infrequent contact with friends from college but it's not the same as having friends down here (Waterford City) In my current job I am getting to meet lots of people but I work mostly outside of Waterford so it would be less than convenient to meet up outside of work if the occasion was to arise. In fact most of my social life revolves around Stephen and I do appreciate that I'm lucky that he's interested in culture and good food so we're often doing something new but it would still be nice to occasionally meet a girl for coffee or to watch a stupid movie.

Shortly after reading about Girl Crew I found them on Facebook and asked to join the South East group. At first not much happened there or the people looking to meet were from other parts of the South East. But then one of the girls suggested meeting in Tramore this week and I half committed myself to coming along. The joy of agency work is often that you think you have a few days off and then you get called to work. As the day loomed closer I realised I was off and I deliberated not going. I am not always good with strangers and truth be told I was nervous. To top it all off, I ended up getting a last minute dentist appointment late that afternoon and I was still a little bit woozy when it was time to head to Tramore. So much so that I turned up an hour early and waited a good ten minutes before I realised my mistake. It was lucky that I did realise because I came really close to approaching a strange woman who was also waiting outside the Cafe we agreed to meet at and asking her if she was here for the Girl Crew night. I would have looked like some nutter. I checked the Girl Crew South East page again to make sure I had gotten the right time and took myself off on a walk to kill the time. An hour later I was back in front of the cafe again. I was as nervous as someone on a first date and I found myself eyeing every unaccompanied woman suspiciously, trying to work out if she was here for Girl Crew without actually asking. Then along came one Girl Crewer and she found the other girl we were waiting on and it turned out we were feeling the same nerves. In the end I realised there was nothing to be nervous about and we all got on great and chatted so long we didn't realise the time until the Cafe announced it was closing. 

I left feeling pleased with myself for being brave enough to show up and vowing to keep an eye on the Girl Crew page so I can keep up with future events and hopefully make it to some more when work allows and maybe one day I might even suggest one of my own.