I’ll admit that I’ve only watched their performance on SNL, but having been fortunate enough to waltz through puberty during the Golden Age of bubblegum pop boy bands, I understand what an awesome score One Direction is for anyone in a training bra this year. Sure, it initially confuses things when you have to reconcile cooties with the notion that you are licking the jacket of the Backstreet Boys’ self titled debut album; but you’ll be not-a-girl-not-yet-a-woman enough to handle it when Millennium comes out.

Sure, to the untrained eye these guys are a uniformed army of mini Matt Bromers with Bieber swoops. Each of them is probably a “type” making tweenettes lunge into puberty when they witness their first hair flip/smize combo. We should celebrate that. Here’s why:

1. Pragmatism

This crop of, God willing, sexually inactive youngsters have been particularly saddled with dating lies (Friends with Benefits/ No Strings Attached movies and books that suggest two equally hot yet perfectly complimentary studs will fight over a girl who is not Megan Fox and/or manages to not put out until marriage). Over the course of the next few years, these boys will have paparazzi document them come out of the closet, end up in Rehab, get caught doing something douchey enough to render them unattractive, or get married to a Mormon or something really young. It will prepare girls for college.

2. Blossoming sense of self

You can read this point as heteronormative and maybe more than a titch anti-feminist, but boy bands offer up some of the first “middle school bitch phase” safe space for girls to take (albeit baby) steps towards asserting taste/individuality. Think about it, you had friend that was into AJ Mclean..she probably has a bunch of tattoos now. Your friend that was into Lance Bass is probably still falling in love with gay guys. If anyone actually liked Chris Kirkpatrick, I bet they went to Coachella in a pancho. I wrote Christa Carter Timberlake on all of my homework assignments in the 5th grade, and I still love me a douchey bro.

3. Aids the transition phase out of little girl phase

There is an awkward lull between when girls burn their Barbies and when they have accumulated enough trophies/art projects/drunk pictures of their BFFs to cover their walls. Teen Bop wallpaper baby.

4. Deflection of reality

Girls mature faster than boys and so starts the very sad attempts at tween romance. Did Billy not understand that the note you gave him in front of EVERYONE took your relationship to the next level? Whatever, it doesn’t matter. Your real boyfriend is that one that looks kind of like Chris Colfer. He gets you.