All over TikTok, young women are taking videos of themselves in .5 zoom suggestively dancing in various public places, particularly public transit.
The trend was kicked off by 22-year-old TikToker Sabrina Bahsoon, who recorded herself dancing in the London Underground, known colloquially as the tube. Participants in the trend began using the hashtag “tubegirl,” which currently has over 1.2 billion views on TikTok.
Reports about the trend from legacy media outlets have been overwhelmingly positive, with ABC praising Bahsoon for taking “confidence to the next level” and The Daily Mail reporting that she’s “empowering Gen-Zers to ‘overcome social anxiety.’”
Bahsoon has posted multiple videos participating in her own trend. She describes the “movement” she’s created as an exercise in “confidence.” But is Bahsoon “vibing” for personal gratifications, as she suggests in interviews and in her video captions, or is she vibing for her followers on TikTok?
Bahsoon is always using headphones or earphones in her videos, which likely means the other passengers cannot hear the music she’s dancing to. From the perspective of her fellow travelers, Bahsoon likely doesn’t look confident; she looks bizarre and self-conceited while staring into her phone and dancing salaciously in public to no music.
Lohanny Santos, who calls herself “New York’s tube girl,” posted a video of what it looks like from the perspective of bystanders. Below, you can watch Santos’ video and what it looks like for someone watching her make the video.
Either everyone participating in the tube girl trend
