Western guys seem to really like alternative/goth/rebel girls but eastern guys don’t seem to like these types very much. Even a traditionalist western guys seem to like them. Which is odd. Why the split and why would a traditionalist adore a symbol of counterculture so much? But I think 1984 might have the answer.
In 1984, Julia is the rebel girl that the protagonist, Winston falls in love with. She hates the system, thought police and conformists. Which is fair because she could be literally chastised or worse for saying the wrongthink. Her position (and everyone elses in the book) is universally horrifying yet relatable to the west. Nobody understands that free speech has consequences or that status quo is anti-tradition better than the west.
Yet discretion is a big part of Julia’s character. She’s a social chameleon. She doesn’t try to say as little as possible rather instead she tries to false-flag as much as possible. She looks like a sex negative conformist so much so Winston actually mistakes her for one. She wasn’t mysterious; she was misleading. I think Orwell wrote his ideal woman in Julia and her social chameleonism was a huge part of her charm. She’s a rebel who had the survival skills to hide it.
(Honestly I also get the impression Orwell is the boomer hippy who idolizes sex positivity because he thinks a sex positive culture will make sex more personally avaliable to him unlike a sex negative culture where sex is usually only acquired via marriage.)
However the modern man’s whose ideal girl is alt isn’t discreet. Her rebellion is obvious and she tells everyone about it. Which ruins Julia’s best quality. She doesn’t cave into thinking the status quo because she hides her thoughts. The alt girls that tell the world she is alt through her words and wardrobe don’t. Yet if she’s brave enough to show her true colors then her thoughts must be safe and mainstream enough among other women to share. Exhibitionism is what eats rebellion, the core of her ideology, alive. Exhibitionism is why she will inevitably love the state. Exhibitionism is why she will betray you to protect the state. In other words; a woman who hides is a woman who loves and protects. Which is probably what a man who wants a rebel is really desiring.