Girl Defined

      

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Girl Defined
YouTuber Information
Profile	Girl Defined
Style	Commentary
Date joined	March 22, 2014
Twitter / X	@Girl_Defined
Facebook	Girl Defined
Instagram and Threads	@girldefined
Videos	410+
Schedule	Daily
Status	Active
Associates	Lauren Chen
Username
Personal information
Full name	Bethany Beal Kristen Clark
Nationality	American
Location	Lone Star, Texas, United States
Channel trailer
2021 Girl Defined Conference
Most viewed video
6 Things Every Christian Girl Needs to Know Before Getting Married
First video
How to Find True Joy and Contentment as a Single Girl

Bethany Beal (born: September 13, 1988 (1988-09-13)) and her sister Kristen Clark (January 7, 1987 (1987-01-07)) are Christian YouTube vloggers and writers who give life advice to young women of faith on the web series and YouTube channel Girl Defined. Together, they co-authored the book "Girl Defined: God's Radical Design for Beauty, Femininity, and Identity".

Their online presence has been largely negative, and has influenced a wave of anti-Christian sentiment on YouTube.

Bethany Beal

Bethany Beal has written for the 'Lies Young Women Believe' blog and served as an anti-abortion counselor. On 14 October 2018 she married David Johnathon Beal.

Kristen Clark

Kristen Clark is a former model who quit her career as she felt it didn't align with her Christian values. On June 8 2011 she married Zachary Clark. She has made videos about her struggle with temptation and how she overcame it.

Personal Life

Born to Micheal and Heidi Baird, their siblings are Michael Mershon, Stephen Baird, Ellissa Baird, Timothy Mershon, Rebekah Baird, Suzanna Baird and Matthew Baird. They are of German descent and currently reside in Texas.

Content

Girl Defined analyzes the average American lifestyle through a Christian lens and how one can maintain such a lifestyle while at the same time not straying away from the teachings of Christianity.

Political Views

Girl Defined is against third wave feminism, claiming it encourages sexual promiscuity, despises male leadership, doesn't value all lives and encourages a victim mentality. They think that third wave feminism and Christianity cannot mix, and feminism and biblical womanhood are opposed to one another. They are also anti-abortion, believing abortion to be murder and claim the best way to not have an abortion is to fear God. They also express anti-LGBT views.

History

Girl Defined were relatively unknown until they were featured on Cody Ko's "That's Cringe" series. Cody unintentionally gave them a popularity boost, which caused more channels to discuss them, especially LGBT YouTubers. Their popularity expanded even more when TheRightOpinion made a documentary on them.

Controversies

Transphobia

Kristen seems to think being transgender is a fad and a trend, claiming on her blog that she didn't want to partake in it, as well as saying that allowing people to identify as transgender would lead to the fall of family units, therefore destroying Western civilization. She also said changing genders was impossible as it went against God's design. Bethany said that Christian girls should not embrace the transgender movement, and that transgender people were "believing in a lie" if they actually thought that their identities were valid. Their transphobic videos have been received negatively as well.

Homophobia

Kristen accused the gay movement of having "a sneaky agenda" and gay love wasn't true love. She regards homosexuality as a sin and says marriage is between a man and a woman. She also reacted negatively to Disney adding a gay scene in the live action Beauty and Beast. They also have a number of anti-gay videos.

There is an accusation that Bethany's husband, David, used to identify as homosexual and was sent to a conversion therapy camp before marrying her. He denied this and expressed his opposition to the practice.

This accusation is used by gay YouTubers towards several other Christian YouTubers that express anti-LGBT views,such as Paul and Morgan Olliges.

Anti-Feminism & Sexual Assault

Kristen claims that feminists have no respect for themselves and are sexually frustrated and that being an independent woman is not always good, as being independent would cause them to place their desires first and shove men and faith behind. She also said women should not sleep around. Bethany has called feminism a "Goliath" and that women's role in society is that of wives and mothers. Their videos talking about feminism and sex culture usually have a lot of dislikes, from fans of LGBT and Atheist YouTubers.

One time, a woman came forward to them about her sexual assault, and they responded by calling her "broken" and a "sinful girl", ignoring that it was entirely non-consensual. Multiple YouTubers such as Rachel Oates, iNabber and James Marriot called them out for it. They later apologized for it, and unlike most of their videos, it was well received.

More controversies are documented here.

Nazi ancestor

Girl Defined's great-grandfather Johann (Hans) Grosslercher was a member of the NSDAP since 1925 and was the Nazi mayor of Saalfelden, Austria. He was arrested multiple times in 1934 likely for participating (and possibly leading) Nazi demonstrations (which was illegal in Austria at the time). He became the mayor of Saalfelden a mere six days after the Nazi Germany annexed Austria, which should give you a good indication of his status and influence within the party. During her honeymoon, Bethany and her husband posed in front of the gravesite of her great-grandparents. Savvy users quickly noticed the names and looked them up, only to discover the details listed above. Bethany began deleting comments inquiring about the Nazi connection. The post was still up, the questioning comments were not.

Another post has the caption: "With family that lived in Austria and were directly impacted by the war, I have a special interest in learning about what they went through." Johann Grosslercher likely oversaw sending Saalfelden's Jewish community to the death camps. Once WWII ended, he was removed as mayor in 1945.

If Bethany is unaware of her ancestor's Nazi history and involvement, it may also be because her mother still holds him in high regard. One of Heidi's sons is nicknamed after him ("Hans").

Bethany poses beside her Nazi ancestor's grave

Her tone implies that her family faced persecution rather than they were Nazis

A now deleted post confirming that the child was named after the Nazi grandfather, and holding said grandfather in high regard

This Nazi ancestor is still idolized within the Baird family to the point where Girl Defined either remains completely ignorant of his actions or they are deliberating misrepresenting their family history.

Shady Business Allegations and COVID-19

As a non-profit, they are required to file an annual 990 Tax Return. Here is their report for 2017 and here is the report for 2018. They haven't released the 2019 form, but when pressed, they offered a budget & expense report, not the actual amount of money they take in. They had a net asset of about $92,625 by the end of year 2018, but continue to ask for donations about $30,000 at the end of each year. They once asked for $20,000 when Cody Ko's video on them went viral. One of their biggest yearly expenses appears to be ~$6000+ on "Meals & Entertainment". Despite exceeding their year end donation goal of $30,000, there is still no new website as of November 2020 and no one knows where that money went.

In Dec 2019, they claimed they needed nearly $15k for a new website and rebranding

During COVID-19 shutdowns and economic trouble for hundreds of millions in the country, they did not seem to take it very seriously. Instead of helping their local community, donating to people in need, supporting those infected either financially or emotionally, they did nothing. They travelled domestically multiple times, travelled internationally at least twice, held a Summer wedding for their brother, planned to hold their annual conference in-person before the city stepped in, held numerous parties and unnecessary gatherings, and have questioned whether masks stop the spread of the disease.

Bethany made an out-of-state trip (with her unvaccinated young baby) to buy up 38 entire dresses from Charleston thrift stores, thereby removing potentially, the only affordable clothing for low-income families in the area. She later marked up the prices for 6 times what she likely bought them for and put them up for sale online.

Trivia

• Their church is Wayside Chapel, Crossway Bible Church.
• Bethany thinks you can't kiss before marriage.

Gallery