NROP: Role Models of Today: Becoming a Bimbo.

Oh, how times have changed… It does not go unnoticed that I sound like my grumpy parents, back in the day when I was a kid, but, I swear that while there is a lot of good in the world, there is also a lot of… not so good and even downright terrible. One cannot always look at the bright side of life because even the sun sets, plunging us into darkness.

Growing up, I was taught about respect (for myself and others). I was also encouraged to make my parents (and myself) proud by being a productive member of society. Doing well at school and not getting into any trouble were some of the first objectives of mine. There were many restrictions and rules put upon me and I hated most of them at the moment, however, now I know that it was all meant to shape me into a decent human being that works hard, loves, and is loved.

We all have biases, whether ex- or implicit. I challenge you to think of an image of a ‘bimbo’ without trying to correct yourself. Got it? If you feel shy, here is what I see when I think of that word – a woman who is highly sexualized, often with her breasts augmented, and does not use her brain very often. Those individuals often undergo various plastic surgery procedures and laugh at things that are less than humorous. Is your image similar to mine? It seems I have knocked it out of the park because Wikipedia says:

Bimbo is a slang term for a conventionally attractive, sexualized, naive, and unintelligent woman. (…) It is often used to describe women who are blond, have curvaceous figures, heavy makeup, and revealing clothing. It is commonly associated with “the dumb blonde” stereotype.

Wikipedia

What I was surprised to find out was that the term was used to describe an unintelligent, brutish man at the beginning of the 20th century.

A couple of years ago, I remember reading something about certain women “reclaiming” the word bimbo. One of the female porn stars, Alicia Amira decided that it was time to nix the negative connotations related to ‘bimbo’ and to make it a label that one would be proud to have.

Now, you know how it is OK for African Americans to call each other the “N-word,” but it is not alright for a white person to do so? There is a similar story with the word ‘bitch.’ While it is OK for a girl to use that term when talking about her friend (or even to describe herself), it is not taken lightly when uttered by a man towards a woman. In the first instance, the word is used as a term of endearment while, when used outside the circle, is seen as derogatory. Why is it that the same word means different things depending on who speaks it?

Even though it was announced back in 2017 that the word bimbo was going to become a desirable description, I do not think the campaign was very successful because I still equate ‘bimbo’ with ‘bad.’ Apparently, there is yet another movement trying to turn the tide. It seems like everything these days happens on TikTok. So does this campaign. BimboTok is a subculture that glorifies bimbos. It is nice that they are trying to be inclusive and they call for body positivity (Who does not anymore?), but they also see ditzy people as “endearing”. To me, it sounds patronizing, but who am I to judge? Some say that a bimbo is a person (she, he, they, etc.) who has an artificial exterior but a heart of gold. In the South (of the USA), people say: “Bless your heart,” which is often used in place of: “What a naive idiot you are.” It seems to me that the meaning of ‘bimbo’ is similar.

Having a heart of gold is great. I might not have one, but I definitely try to move in that direction every single day. It should be encouraged to be good. However, that does not mean that being stupid should go hand in hand with that. Some people are more intelligent than others. Yes, we should accept and appreciate ALL, but we also should push ourselves and others to do and be better. Otherwise, why are we here (on Earth)?

The movement claims that it is to help women embrace femininity. Just because you want a certain word to mean something, does not mean it actually does. Why are you so hellbent on turning words like bimbo into a positive one? Instead, I would recommend either striving not to be one OR owning it. I know that everyone wants to be Insta-famous these days but if you want to be happy, it might not be the right path.

I laughed out loud when I got to this part of the article on the topic of New-Age Bimbos:

“Just because someone’s an astrophysicist, doesn’t mean that they are going to know that Justin Bieber had the most Twitter followers in 2013,” said one of the self-proclaimed bimbos.

InTheKnow

We all have different priorities.

And that is OK.

That same person goes on to say that making out with random people at parties because you know you look hot is ‘self-care.’ How about NOT making out with random people even though you know you look hot? Why is that not glorified?

I could go on and on quoting these bimbos but I have stuff to do. Hence, I will leave you with this: this new movement is meant to glorify stupidity (one of the leaders asks “how?” if you are good at reading) and tries to sexualize women even more. Are you on board?

• What do you think of the word ‘bimbo?’
• Who do you associate it with?
• Is it a positive or negative for you label?
• Is it confusing to you to have different meanings for the same word?

Stay golden,

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