Haven’t heard of BimboTok? Then it’s time to wake up and smell the lip gloss. It’s a subsection of TikTok where self-proclaimed bimbos are proudly reclaiming the title. A bit of fun.
You won’t catch me trying to stand in the way of evolving language. My efforts to keep up with the right words to use often feel like standing in a rough sea while the waves smash me in and out, occasionally flooring me. Thrilling, if precarious.
Take my own sexuality. I experimented with identifying as pansexual only to find out from Twitter that I had accidentally “erased” bisexuality. I didn’t know I was able to do that, let alone all by myself. I don’t know if you’ve ever felt simultaneous sadness, shame and incredible power, but it’s very confusing. Eventually, I settled on “queer” as my personal badge of honour. The only problem with that is that the boomers in my life are baffled. “We’ve only just stopped using that one as a slur.” I paraphrase, but they have. There’s no way that isn’t the future waiting for me, too. I can picture my six-year-old, in a decade’s time, muttering to his mates: “Oh my God, did you just hear my mum say ‘neurodivergent’? Ugh. The shame.”
It’s funny and I think really valuable to acknowledge that many of the words we’re using now in an effort to be as kind as possible will, at some point, be the wrong ones. So let’s get into bimbogate. What is it? And why is it making me laugh?
A prominent self-proclaimed bimbo called Chlapecka describes a bimbo as being “a leftist who likes to have their tits out”. I mean, what’s not to love?
This bit. Another bimbo called Princess Faux Rich explains that a modern reclaimed bimbo is “a hyper-feminine person”. They must be pro-surgery while also being “truly authentically themselves”. I see. It’s about being “loved and respected by being themselves without having to change who they are”. Well, maybe don’t advocate people paying surgeons to physically change who they are, then.
Nip and tuck that one flaw in the plan, though, and I’ve gone from thinking, “Well, we wouldn’t reclaim the term ‘silly sausage’,” to becoming a bimbo-ally. A bimbally.
TikTok’s revolutionary bimbos hold firm that women can wear whatever they want, however revealing it is. Yes please. They’re against the far right, including pro-lifers. So far, so fabulous. They are fiercely inclusive, carefully inviting all genders to revel in their glorious bimbodom. Lovely. And they are furious at the term bimbo being used by misogynists to claim that women can’t be beautiful and brainy. I mean, I thought Carol Vorderman had sorted that out for us decades ago, but the important thing is, sentiment-wise: hard agree.
These new, improved bimbos delight in the “pink and the girly”, and good on them. At this stage, I should admit that no one has ever called or will ever call me a bimbo. I’ve got brown hair and miniature knockers and if it weren’t for the cruelty of time melting my face, I’d barely even bother with makeup. But I get it. Of course, we should celebrate taking pride in our appearances, if that’s something that brings those people joy, let alone power and purpose.
I love these bimbos showing that a feminist doesn’t have to look like one type of person or another. And Princess Faux Rich’s argument that it’s as important to know the number of Justin Bieber’s social media followers as it is to know astrophysics is funny.
I’m delighted to welcome the term “bimbo” into the once-banished cannon. “Babe”, “slut” and “bitch” have been waiting for you in there with very open arms.
• Jessica Fostekew is a comedian, actor and writer. Arwa Mahdawi is away
