If you’ve been on Twitter, Instagram, or pretty much any social media platform in the past year, then there’s a good chance that you’ve seen lifestyle blogger Caitlin Covington before. Even if you don’t know her name, you probably recognize her face and outfit—with her brown ankle boots, seasonal fall scarves, and perfectly coiffed curls, Ms. Covington, bright and bubbly, appears to be fall personified. As rapper Megan Thee Stallion’s “Hot Girl Summer” swept the internet in August 2019, so did an old photo of Covington. Her online fame, however,  came in the form of “Christian Girl Autumn”. 

It all started in the summer of 2019 when Twitter user @bimbofication, a transgender woman named Natasha, tweeted out a picture of Covington and a friend. In the photo, the women are wearing oatmeal cardigans and swooping scarves, their arms linked underneath white bell sleeves. “Hot Girl Summer is coming to an end,” the caption read. “Get ready for Christian Girl Autumn.” 

nat (@bimbofication). “Hot Girl Summer is coming to an end, get ready for Christian Girl Autumn.” Aug. 9, 2019, 4:21 p.m. Tweet. 

Natasha’s original tweet garnered 50,000 likes and over 12,000 retweets, and thus “Christian Girl Autumn” was born. Meant to lampoon the specific subset of sweater-loving, pumpkin-spice drinking girls, “Christian Girl Autumn” plays upon the stereotype that white women obsessed with the rustic fall aesthetic are either culturally ignorant, deeply religious, politically conservative, or a mixture of all three. 

“Autumn” is an ironic spoof of Megan Thee Stallion’s summer smash, which ranked No. 1 on the Billboard Charts, and features lyrics such as “it’s a Hot Girl Summer, so you know she got it lit.” But while “Hot Girl Summer” is a song about living your life up without any limitations, the women featured in “Christian Girl Autumn” were mocked online as being conforming, bigoted, and hypocritically conservative. Online users imagined Covington in several hackneyed situations, giving her a racist, homophobic, and generally irritating personality based on her appearance—think of the “Karen” meme, only younger. 

Lots n Lots of Jets n Planes (@spoopyman123). “This picture asked me not to kiss another man in public and [asked] if I could please leave the restaurant.” Aug. 11, 2019, 5:39 p.m. Tweet. 

M (@SodDribble). “This picture goes to brunch and gets overly excited to pronounce ‘huevos rancheros.’” Aug. 11, 2019, 8:33 p.m. Tweet.

When the meme went viral, Covington accrued thousands of new followers, most of them looking to deride her on her page. But while the internet has made judgments on Covington’s moral beliefs, political stance, and assumed intolerance of minorities, these broad assumptions are confirmed to be untrue. 

On Twitter, Covington said that she wasn’t a Republican, and that she believes love is love, directly contradicting many people’s assumptions of her and earning her fond nicknames such as the “pumpkin spice queen”. 

Covington and the other woman starring in “Christian Girl Autumn”, Emily Gemma, have also communicated with the person behind the original tweet and @bimbofication account, belonging to transgender woman Natasha. When Natasha began her transition in quarantine, Covington supported her by retweeting the link with her surgery GoFundMe. She also donated $500 to the cause. As of right now, Natasha is almost halfway to her $15,000 goal. 

“I can’t deny that I love fall and everything that goes along with it!” Covington said during an Insider interview. “When it comes to fall, I totally admit to being ‘basic,’ and I’m okay with that. [But] I’m a daughter, friend, wife, and an expecting mother. I’m a gay rights and Black Lives Matter supporter, and I think all people should be accepted for who they are.”

She also added: “I think if someone sat down with me for fifteen minutes, they would see that, too.” 

Photo courtesy of INSTAGRAM.COM