The Bimbofication of Modern-Day Feminism (and Why It’s an Issue)

Bimbo. A loaded term that—prior to the past few years—had derogatory connotations, implying low intelligence and sexual promiscuity. The term bimbo was derived from the Italian word bambino, meaning young child or little boy. Throughout the early 1900s, bimbo referred to a foolish man; it retained this meaning during the 20th century and, starting from the 1920s, bimboism applied to women as well. It was also during the 1920s that bimbo was used to describe a curvy woman—more specifically, a blonde white woman with big breasts and low intelligence. 

The term bimbo gained popularity in the 80s and 90s through pop culture. Celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe and Madonna were called bimbos by the media because of their looks and adherence to Eurocentric beauty standards; other bimbo pop culture examples include the plastics of Mean Girls, Elle Woods of Legally Blonde, and Chere Horowitz of Clueless—to name a few. The term was first used to define an ultra-feminine, large breasted, skinny woman who was almost always white. Throughout the past few years, however, many women have reclaimed the term bimbo on social media, especially on TikTok. In fact, iD Magazine declared 2021 to be ‘The Year of the Bimbo’. The reclamation of this word started with TikTokers, most notably Chrissy Chlapecka (she/they), advertising modern bimboism on their social media platforms. Chlapecka, who was known for her blonde-haired, doe-eyed, and utra-pink aesthetic and witty humor, redefined bimbo in a TikTok video: “A bimbo isn’t dumb. Well, she kind of is, but she isn’t that dumb! She’s actually a radical leftist, who’s pro-sex work, pro-Black Lives Matter, pro-LGBTQ+, pro-choice, and will always be there for her girlies, gays and theys,” they said in a viral video. 

Many other women then followed Chlapecka and rebranded themselves as bimbos. One woman, Fiona Fairbairn, created the ‘Bimbo Manifesto’ and started identifying as a bimbo because she thought she was too self aware. “Just let me be dumb,” she said in a TikTok video, “because people with no critical thinking skills be happy as hell.” The ‘Bimbo Manifesto’ preaches that women should “stop fact-checking” and just believe facts with no research, “show up everywhere hot all the time”, “don’t participate in discourse”, “stop looking at the news”, “no critical thinking, no self awareness, no thoughts, just vibes”, just to name a few (The Critic UK). 

It is ironic and disheartening that after just one century of women gaining the right to vote in the US that certain contemporary feminist movements, like bimbo feminism, promote the objectification of women. Bimbo feminism is one of the branches of the contemporary feminist movement known as dissociative feminism, whereby women are encouraged to be checked-out and nonchalant. Dissociative feminism, coined by Emmeline Clein in 2019, is a response to another contemporary feminist movement known as #girlboss feminism that gained traction in the 2010s, where women were encouraged to dismantle the patriarchy through a capitalist lens; the #girlboss feminist movement has essentially suggested that a woman will be liberated from the patriarchy if she furthers the capitalistic agenda by becoming rich and behaving ‘like a man’ in the workplace. It is abundantly clear that #girlboss feminism will not liberate women, and the response of this encouragement of hyper-productivity through dissociation is understandable. However, although Vice encourages modern-day bimboism—saying that the movement is not only a better approach to intersectional feminism but also that it could be the way to reach true liberation, it is equally as clear that dissociative feminism, including bimbo feminism, is not the answer. Women do not benefit from modern-day bimboism, and it is concerning that Vice is promoting it—although, it is ultimately unsurprising considering the number of former employees that have spoken out about how the media company fostered an environment where sexual harassment was normalized.

Promoters of bimboism vow that bimbos are supposedly grounded in inclusive and anti-capitalist ideology, yet the caricature and appearance of a bimbo is rooted in consumption–such as buying makeup and outfits to ‘always look hot’ and promoting plastic surgery to achieve a certain physique. The Critic UK describes bimboism as a “gift to the multi-billion dollar beauty and pornography industries.” To say that bimboism is based on an anti-capitalist agenda would be ridiculous, considering that the modern-day bimbo is based off of Barbie, a fashion doll that is manufactured by a multi-billion dollar company called Mattel. This oxymoron is even more apparent considering that a self-identified bimbo Alicia Amira created a clothing company called Be a Bimbo, that sells shirts that say ‘PLASTIC’ on them and accessories that use communist language (like ‘Lennon’ Vuitton instead of Louis Vuitton, which is incredibly ironic for a myriad of reasons). All in all, the anti-capitalist image that bimboism promotes proves itself to be insincere when the bimbo movement is based in consumerism in order to achieve a desired physical appearance.

Not to mention, the image of bimboism being rooted in leftist ideology becomes more insincere when self-identified bimbos, like Chrissy Chlapecka, say they are ‘pro-sex work and pro-BLM’ yet insist they don’t read and are ‘dumb’ in the same breath. If we follow this logic–that bimbos are smooth-brained while also being radical leftists, what does that say about other leftists? That they are also stupid? Ultimately, the no-thoughts-head-empty mentality that bimboism encourages takes away from the importance of the issues they are ‘supporting’, such as BLM and LGBTQ+ issues. It instead makes it seem as though these political movements are solely an aesthetic for the bimbo feminist movement and that the aforementioned leftist ideologies are based in performativity rather than genuine care.

It is evident that these contemporary feminist movements are coping mechanisms that many women have resorted to. The bimbo appeal of forcing yourself to think less is a way of shielding yourself from harm–and sadly, it is understandable why many women would want this lifestyle considering the presence of sexism and gendered violence in the world. However, becoming ignorant will never lead to liberation, and tangible change won’t occur when women are mentally checked-out; that is just your privilege speaking. 

Self-objectification and dulling your intelligence down is not synonymous with female empowerment. Self-objectification and the ‘power’ women may think they can gain from it, is short-lived–because a man who views women as sex objects that are inferior to men is unlikely to care whether or not the performance is ironic. As Nicole Jones from The Critic said best: “The problem being, if you’ve deliberately trained yourself to appear more, and think less, who holds the real power in this negotiation?” Is it ultimately revolutionary for women to call themselves ‘stupid’ again, and who truly benefits from this self-identification?