Why does being hyper feminine translate into bimbo for some of tiktok? I don’t understand this trend and the point. I love pink, purple, dresses, typically “girly” things. However, I don’t see how degrading ourselves with a misogynistic term that has no positive meaning would ‘take back our power’.

Ahollowbullet-yet · 2022-03-24T14:27:42+00:00

When there were demonstrations in my country for feminism, there were girls topless in the streets with things written on their chests. Maybe 90% of the comment sections on the articles covering it were men, delighted, saying things like "if this is feminism we need more of it". If men are happy you're doing this, you need to rethink it. You can't be what they want but internally think it's subversive- you're literally what they want. No other movement for rights demands this. There is no anti capitalist movement that encourages poor people to work more. Men get power, women get "empowerment".

DrildoBagurren · 2022-03-24T14:56:17+00:00

"I want to pander to the male gaze because I'm insecure and crave male validation so that they don't lump me in with the "angry, ugly feminists". But I don't want anyone (Including myself) to believe that I am simply pandering to the male gaze so I slap a feminist label. I am still shackled by internalised misogyny, but it doesn't feel so bad when I call it a personal choice. Everything stays the same, but i feel the "empowerment" running through my veins. "

UnapologeticWife · 2022-03-24T14:01:12+00:00

This rhetoric does nothing but continue the cycle of holding women accountable for men’s actions, attitudes, misogyny and hate. Pandering to the male gaze is so internalized even ‘woke’ women fall victim. If women are fighting one another, men get a pass on changing their behavior and cognitions.

Men hate fuck women. That’s the problem, end sentence.

We continue to hold our standards and hold ourselves and other women accountable when we see internalized misogyny. We call out patriarchal BS. We don’t accept continuing relationships with men who don’t want to be good partners. That’s what we do, not change how we dress, that’s like kissing our kiddos boo boo instead of getting rid of the rusty nails they hurt themselves on.

Geocities_SEO_Expert · 2022-03-24T15:25:29+00:00

The hate fuck lady is right. Millennial and younger women are at a huge disadvantage, because so many of them think men think the same way women think, and want the same things women want, and think women should give men what men want as part of "equality". They fundamentally don't understand how most men get off on humiliation and degradation. All the nasty shit they masturbate to looks nasty because it is nasty, that's the whole point. There are no misunderstandings, there's nothing there to reclaim. They get off on deciding women are stupid and trashy and deserve whatever evil things men do to them.

sewingmachinesavior · 2022-03-24T13:42:00+00:00

The men in my life I’ve known who while I can’t say for certain are HVM, but who have shown the most respect etc, NOT ONE cared about my looks, clothes, if I wore make up or not.

Like there is baseline attraction between people, but if your attraction to me centers on stuff I have to buy (make up, eyelashes, surgery, designer clothes), I’m gonna NOPE.

pickmieshaexorcist · 2022-03-24T15:20:32+00:00

Ah liberal feminism, where declaring something makes it so. “We’ve reclaimed bitch, slut and queer”. Nope. It wasn’t true in the 90s with “bitch” everywhere, it wasn’t true in the 00s with slutwalks. And I’ve seen plenty of gay men my age or older online who still have a big problem with “queer” as it’s a slur they were bullied with, and now flung around by clueless young people who are only “spicy straights” at best.

All you’ve got to do is look at the comments from men on libfem spectacles like slutwalks and topless demonstrations to see the utter lack of respect for these women. Flashing your tits doesn’t make misogynistic men listen to your ideals (the lie of libfem is that we have to make feminism palatable for these men by pandering to them).

makeawomancum · 2022-03-24T12:41:17+00:00

I don’t get it honestly. But I do know a HVM would not want to call any woman bimbo in the first place , whether she is ‘feminine’ or not, because they respect women as a class too much.

I also think it’s unfair to compare reclaiming ‘neurodivergent’ to reclaiming an inherently sexist/derogatory word like bimbo…

electroloop · 2022-03-24T15:23:04+00:00

Being a "bimbo" is another performative act for the pleasure of men.

As someone who dabbled in the bimbofication culture and deliberately dumbed down my intelligence to appeal to low value, pornsick men, I can tell you that its not empowering or a form of "feminism".

My stint with bimbofication led me to losers, abusers, and men who simply do not give a fuck about women at all.

Men WANT to see women humilliate themselves. Men WANT to see women lack ambition and drive. Men WANT to see women with plastic tits/ass/lips and skimpy clothing.

I have to pay the price with permanent procedures that are pretty much a scar and constant reminder of my whole bimbofication movement phase.

Just because they desire a bimbo sexually, does not mean they respect her whatsoever.

ImpatientMudcrab · 2022-03-24T15:37:19+00:00

Young girls and pickme women wanting male attention but knowing it conflicts with their beliefs found a way to convince themselves they can have both.

hmmmmm221 · 2022-03-24T13:36:30+00:00

Like reclaiming the B word, it’s meaningless until Patriarchy as a whole will crumble. In the meantime, men use these terms to degrade women, and libfems gaslight themselves by “reclaiming” insults.

On the other hand, I disagree that being feminine equals Bimbo. Bimbo is a woman who accepts her place as 2nd class citizen by following hurtful & expansive processes, like makeup, hair removal, heels. Wearing comfortable pink clothes doesn’t signal the same message as paying for having your nails covered in uncomfortable and possibly cancerous acrylics.

lemur00 · 2022-03-24T16:23:18+00:00

She makes what should be a common sense argument. But also femininity IS fetishization. That's the point of it. You can't reverse what something fundamentally is by nature.

Real independance comes from refusing to be commodified. Women who won't play their part are scary so we are just given new motivations to play the same role and we can pretend it's different somehow.

As to the terminology, I was recently called a prude for pointing out that sexualized images of women encourage people to see us as tools to be used. If it's prudish to want to be seen as a real person (!) then why don't we "take back" that term and proudly be prudes? This is an insult of a sexual nature too. See how many allies there would be when we're claiming an insult that doesn't benefit men.

Like sure we can switch motivation for our performance and we'll be celebrated because it's the performance itself that matters. But just try to step out of the role of femininity even in some small way (don't caretake, dress plain, don't smile, don't self-edit, interrupt men, talk loud et c) and see how "empowered" we really are. Those are the things that will not be taken kindly.

Maingurl · 2022-03-24T13:27:04+00:00

Lol @ the picture.

Reverse the fetishisation of feminity

You sure showed them, sis. 🙄

Uhh, I'm tired of the fake empowerment.

They all look like a she-in advertisement.

spicyspa · 2022-03-24T15:06:21+00:00

Women who support the "subversive bimbo" trend are unaware that a lot of women dress this way unironically and men can't tell the difference.

frostedgemstone · 2022-03-24T19:03:16+00:00

Lol they don’t realize men stop listening at ‘becoming what men want’ they don’t care what happens after that. If they can sleep with them or even jack off to them there is no extracting respect or getting some kind of payback at these scrotes

UnevenHanded · 2022-03-24T15:06:46+00:00

Like so many parts of liberal feminism, this is a justification of something some women want to do. Like, if someone wants to do it, that's FINE. But women used to try and say we did things "for ourselves", now it's "subverting patriarchal norms"... I mean, not everything a woman does has to be in service of either men OR Feminism.

No individual woman owes anyone anything. There's so much guilt and distress when we initially start living for ourselves that it's easy to see why women feel compelled to make psychological negotiations like this. I mean, it's seeking approval from both sides.

I used to think being a feminist meant that whatever you did was inherently feminist and conversely, if it wasn't, you weren't a feminist. It was such a fucking burden, and I felt like a fake feminist all the time.

Now I'm of the belief that there are feminist actions and choices, and there are conformist ones. No one person is some kind of ideal feminist deity, that's yet another impossible expectation that dehumanises women 🤷🏽‍♀️

Women do what we gotta do, and it's okay if some of our actions and choices aren't feminist. But twisting the idea of what IS feminist confuses younger people, and I really hope the burden put on women to be perfect, whether in feminism or otherwise, is what is truly addressed. We're making baby steps forwards, and that's okay. Saying that we don't have to change anything but the spin on it... it's a no from me.

Dressing as you choose is a personal choice, and wanting to look desirable or attractive is healthy, to some extent - but we keep making feminism about appearance, and I'm just like.... there are so many things that are more important, and appearance politics are a goddam distraction. I'm not saying bodily autonomy doesn't come into it, I'm saying patriarchy benefits form the minimising of feminism to "let women wear what they want". It's not about "letting" us anything.

Intention doesn't make full body laser or makeup cost any less. It doesn't make waxing and shaving any less painful or tedious. Pornifying your appearance while saying it's empowering doesn't make it so. Wishful thinking changes nothing. Sigh.

Edit: also, just to add - these things are never black and white. I'm Indian, and to some extent, the internet and international fashion trends that show skin have made it more normal and socially acceptable for women to dress as they want without people assuming they're "asking" for sexual activity. It's desensitised people to some extent.

But I don't think it's without its own problems - porn becoming the standard of beauty, and visual objectification becoming even more pervasive. Complex issues are complex 🤷🏽‍♀️

Ipromisetobehonest · 2022-03-24T14:10:41+00:00

I've seen one of these videos that sort of made sense. She said the advantage to being a bimbo is that people underestimate her intelligence and show their true colors much easier.

As someone who used to make my intelligence the main focus of my personality (high IQ, low EQ), I can see the value in being underestimated like that, but it's also reminiscent of when women were expected to dumb themselves down to give men an ego boost. I can't seem to separate the two in my mind, so overall, it's still a pretty gross concept to me.

luvmyvulvaxoxo · 2022-03-24T12:50:44+00:00

Lmao the whole “bimbo” trend is just becoming popular because of the number of transwomen who are into it. That’s who’s saying it’s empowering.

fknbtch · 2022-03-24T15:28:53+00:00

Lol since they masturbate to ANYTHING there is no such thing as giving them MORE masturbatory ammo.

The_Cat_Empress · 2022-03-24T13:49:53+00:00

Ayo, this pansexual shit makes me so damn uncomfortable...that and "qu**r."

It's all for ""boring"" people to deny the fact they have a normal sexuality...be it homo or heterosexual. Nothing wrong with it...it's like saying you're demi/sapiosexual.

Just extra words to complicate things...sexuality isn't complicated!! You either bang or don't.

"It'd work if the b*mbos were celibate at least"

This catering to men thing just ALWAYS turns out sour for women...like free love in the 60's and this Libfem free porn thing now...

"At some point that 'humor' will turn into low self esteem" It's heartbreaking but true. It's hard to break out of that when you've been down for so long...I hope these young women get help.

birdonthestreet · 2022-03-24T17:40:42+00:00

I had an ex tell me one time that sometimes men just like to bang women to (and I quote) “degrade them a little bit” when I asked what this meant? He said that sometimes men come across women that are loud, obnoxious and “cocky” (ahem…self confident ) and that they like to f**k them to degrade them and bring them down a few notches. It was disgusting and I couldn’t believe that was a thing, I even thought he was kidding. Luckily I know now how depraved men truly are and I don’t even give them the satisfaction of sleeping with me period.

roundbackpack · 2022-03-24T18:12:25+00:00

I wonder if women will ever realize that hyper femininity is actually a construct?

We don't think of being extra feminine when we're kids. We learn to be hyper feminine. And everything about hyper femininity consists of being fake at some point, and also about consumism and capitalism... Hyper femininity forces women to BUY.

Makeup: When was skin routine so big before? It wasn't. Before there were just moisturizing creams, and makeup, and exfoliators... Okay. But now you have tik Tok videos and youtbe shorts and Instagram reels of women putting 500 different products of skin routine... Do you even think this is healthy for your skin? No. It's all bullshit. I understand putting some exfoliator and a moisturizer. But, 500 products? Really? It only takes away the natural oils of the skin to only put 499 other random products that do nothing. Just like these VOGUE videos of celebrities with their shitty products and "routines".

Makeup palettes, blades, wax, hair products, nail polish, body conditioners, hair conditioners, plastic surgery, extensions, ETC.

It's all about consuming shit.

Femininity is basically a product at this point. Have you seen how rich women are more feminine than poor women? Guess why

And don't get me started with the sexual empowerment bullshit. You're only sexually empowered for women. For men you're just a slut.

StrawberryMoon3 · 2022-03-24T23:59:28+00:00

I feel the same way about the terms "b!tch" and "sl*t", you can't reclaim words that were created to oppress and dehumanize you.

CheapTea108 · 2022-03-24T23:31:16+00:00

I like very risqué fashion and I like to be sexy but the bimbo thing is ridiculous. Acting stupid to fight against the patriarchy and only ending up as soft porn for men is just sad. I'm not mad at the women who do it but the society that has bred this sort of thing.

queenoshi · 2022-03-24T19:12:51+00:00

On the note of the first tweet can someone explain to me what the appeal of "hate fucking" is? Isn't sex supposed to be about intimacy, love and connection? I mean even ~kink culture~ pretends that intimacy and love is at its root.

A man once told me a story about how he really, really hated a girl: he found her obnoxious, rude, whatever. But then he spent TWO YEARS telling her she was pretty and nice trying to get in her pants. A clear example of how men want to "hate-fuck" but lie about the hate part because they know women would be horrified by it. And about how they see sex as ... revenge? (for being ... unlikeable?)

LilyMunsterIsQueen · 2022-03-24T16:31:45+00:00

The ironic thing is it's largely men who decided feminine = bimbo and these pseudo-feminists are buying right into it. They don't even see that hating on girly girls/hyper-feminine women is exactly what men do and what men want. They somehow don't understand that just because most men would prefer women's sexuality be feminine (think Playboy bunnies, Lolita, Victoria's Secret angels) does not mean for one second that they don't hate femininity.

I guess not everyone absorbed the point of Legally Blonde. 🤷‍♀️ Feminine women are just as smart and driven and kind and funny as tomboys and gender neutral women.

researching4worklurk · 2022-03-24T14:05:33+00:00

I don’t necessarily like it, but I get it from a “reclamation” standpoint. “Bimbo” was only ever an insult because it was applied by external actors, i.e. men who hate women (and sometimes women looking to get a leg up on other women’s expense). If you call yourself a bimbo and embrace it, you can’t be as readily hurt by that label, and the hope is that it takes some power away from the labelers. Plus, we all know that supposed “bimbos” were never stupid in the first place, and played right into what gave them power. (Eg Anna Nicole, Marilyn Monroe, to some extent Dolly Parton by appearance alone).

The reasons I don’t like it are 1) I generally sort of hate when aesthetics are adopted as personality, unless it’s a natural match 2) It does feel like living for a male gaze, even if ostensibly the impetus is personal (but then again, if we can’t avoid it anyway, aren’t we ultimately free to do whatever we want?), 3) I think it hampers educational and professional goals and as we know, money and knowledge are sustainable power, as opposed to sex appeal, at the end of the day.

darkenchantress44 · 2022-03-24T14:30:33+00:00

Now I caught a contradiction.

I thought a bimbo was more like a blonde, very glamorous but not very bright Barbie doll looking type of girl?

And I thought a feminist, according to them, is an ugly fat C - woman.

Come on now scrotes, keep it consistent! You gotta choose!

It seems that, according to guys, if you are plain, which means no makeup, nails, cute clothes, lashes, hair always done, etc. you are not good looking or high value. You are not pretty.

It also seems that if you do wear makeup, lashes, nails, hair done, cute clothes, bright colors, etc. you are instantly categorized and fuck zone Barbie.

Damned if we do and damned if we don’t.

TWST3N · 2022-03-24T15:22:25+00:00

"We already reclaimed terms like qu*r, babe and slt". No, I didn't. We're not yet on a time where men won't use those derogatory terms in a harmful way and use "feminism" as an excuse, so I won't reclaim bimbo either.

Candid_Minimum2217 · 2022-03-24T16:54:05+00:00

Yesterday the Guardian published an article about reclaiming 'bimbo'. That's already been done (in the late 90's) and hasn't got us anywhere. Looking féminine is fine and good, but we cannot equate looking féminine and girl with being a bimbo- which is a synonym for a willfully ignorant, sexually and socially submissive person (I say person because lots of men get off on being a bimbo). 'bimbo' is the bastardisation and degradation of all things feminine and an expression of the worst stereotypes of womanhood. It is not at all the same as being a feminine woman.

_grow_up_already_ · 2022-03-24T16:54:32+00:00

This is exactly why the "still not asking for it" movement fell flat as well. Yes, it would be nice if we lived in a utopia where women could act as they saw fit without unrelated labels like "dumb" being applied to "blonde" However, there is a reason why "utopia" sounds like the Greek word "ou-topos" meaning nowhere. Because the perfect world does not exist nor will it exist as long as human beings have free will. As a result, we must acknowledge that our actions do not exist in a vacuum and have predictable outcomes.

Absolutely, no woman deserves to be raped or objectified and the responsibility for such heinous actions falls squarely on the man who performed them. However, it is also fair to say that it is irresponsible to make oneself a target knowing the risks of playing into stereotypes. And that is what "bimbotok" is failing to acknowledge.

They know exactly how these men are viewing them, as sex objects, and by continuing to present themselves they are saying "that's fine with me, its not my business" when it absolutely is. You are responsible for your body.

dragonqueen65 · 2022-03-24T17:10:06+00:00

Right. There are plenty of discussions around women wearing makeup, getting dressed up and just generally being feminine for their own sake. Why return to "bimbo" when we have done all this work showing that we can just enjoy being "pretty" for the hell of it? I feel like this just undoes it all and returns us right back to being accused of dressing up to catch and seduce scrotes.

animositea_ · 2022-03-24T18:36:03+00:00

Ladies, have you been on the bimbofication subreddit? It is legitimately disturbing.

seasidemoose · 2022-03-24T20:24:31+00:00

i think the line between "girly" and "bimbo" is blurred because of our mysoginistic society. everyone assumes that girls are stupid, so when someone expresses femininity they are viewed as unintelligent.

jsamurai2 · 2022-03-24T22:14:44+00:00

Ok so this isn’t at all in defense of the whole bimbo thing, but I do wonder if part the disconnect is related to generational differences? Obviously men will fetishize women showing skin regardless of their politics. But it seems to me a rejection of the ‘cool girl’ which has been in my opinion the dominant ideal male fantasy for a while. Wearing decidedly non-chill pink outfits and shoes that aren’t practical (or sexy) and lots of hair and makeup to me is directly opposed to ‘feminine enough to fuck but always in jeans and no-makeup makeup, down for anything and everything’. I agree that one still about ‘being everything they desire but opposite’ is bs, but most of t he bimbo content I come across is explicitly not for men. More girly than sexy if that makes sense?

redpeithos · 2022-03-25T12:20:05+00:00

Off-topic but I'm so tired, I thought Azealia was back on Twitter 😂😂😂

StrawberryMoon3 · 2022-03-25T00:05:37+00:00

4th wave feminism is really letting young women down. It has no teeth.

NiceForWhat22 · 2022-03-24T22:50:47+00:00

And when you call it out for what it is, you get the "you're just jealous because you don't look like a bimbo haha". Yeah.. really.. this in itself already proves you're doing it for the male gaze because the whole definition of bimbo body type is what men are supposed to like..

Vaahla · 2022-03-25T15:27:40+00:00

Bimbo and bimboificaton (the process of turning someone into a bimbo) is a fetish.

Ya’ll just got tricked into feeding their gross, controlling fetish.

You’re making fap material, not empowering women.

peachtartx · 2022-03-24T16:35:46+00:00

I can definitely see how it could become toxic, but I’ve really identified with “bimbo culture” at times. I’ve always been hyper feminine and made fun of for it, all the way back to grade school. And while I don’t openly call myself a bimbo, I do like creators like Chrissy Chlapecka who espouse being independent and not letting men, or anyone else, treat you poorly.

For me, wearing a ton of pink and glitter and artistic makeup sometimes is a fun way to perform my femininity that doesn’t feel like it’s for men. Most guys have told me they think it’s too extra and I shouldn’t dress like that because men don’t like it, but that talk only makes me want to do it more. I do feel like I’m “sticking it to men” sometimes when I can be super girly, but also intelligent and complex at the same time. I like that there are a community of women out there who’ve had a shared experience, and are sort of tongue-in-cheek about it.

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