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''Bimbo'' is slang for a conventionally attractive,
sexualized Sexualization (sexualisation in Commonwealth English) is the emphasis of the sexual nature of a behavior or person. Sexualization is linked to sexual objectification, treating a person solely as an object of sexual desire. According to the Ame ...
naive woman. The term was originally used in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
as early as 1919 for an unintelligent or brutish man. As of the early 21st century, the "stereotypical bimbo" appearance became akin to that of a physically attractive woman. It is commonly employed to characterize women who are blonde, have curvaceous physiques, wear excessive makeup, and dress in revealing attire while being associated with "the dumb blonde" stereotype.''Encyclopedia of Hair''
pp. 149-151
/ref>


History

The word bimbo derives from the
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
''bimbo'', a masculine-
gender Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender. Although gender often corresponds to sex, a transgender person may identify with a gender other tha ...
term that means "little or baby boy" or "young (male) child" (the feminine form of the Italian word is ''bimba''). Use of this term began in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
as early as 1919, and was a slang word used to describe an unintelligentOxford English Dictionary, 1919 or brutish man. It was not until the 1920s that the term ''bimbo'' began to be associated with women in popular culture. In 1920, Frank Crumit, Billy Jones, and Aileen Stanley all recorded versions of "My Little Bimbo Down on the Bamboo Isle", with words by
Grant Clarke Grant Clarke (May 14, 1891, Akron, Ohio – May 16, 1931, California) was an American songwriter. Clarke moved to New York City early in his career, where he worked as an actor and a staff writer for comedians. He began working on Tin Pan Alley, ...
and music by Walter Donaldson. The song uses the term "bimbo" to describe an island girl of questionable virtue. The 1929
silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...
'' Desert Nights'' uses it to describe a wealthy female crook, and in ''
The Broadway Melody ''The Broadway Melody'', also known as ''The Broadway Melody of 1929'', is a 1929 American pre-Code musical film and the first sound film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture. It was one of the early musicals to feature a Technicolor sequen ...
'', an angry Bessie Love calls a chorus girl a bimbo. The first use of its female meaning cited in the ''
Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...
'' is dated 1929, from the scholarly journal ''American Speech'', where the definition was given simply as "a woman". In the 1940s, ''bimbo'' was still being used to refer to both men and women, as in, for example the comic novel '' Full Moon'' by
P. G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse ( ; 15 October 1881 – 14 February 1975) was an English writer and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Je ...
who wrote of "bimbos who went about the place making passes at innocent girls after discarding their wives like old tubes of toothpaste". The term died out again for much of the 20th century until it became popular again in the 1980s and 1990s, with political sex scandals. As bimbo began to be used increasingly for females, exclusively male variations of the word began to surface, like mimbo and himbo, a backformation of bimbo, which refers to an unintelligent, but attractive, man. In 2017, "The Bimbo Movement" was founded by self-proclaimed bimbo and adult star Alicia Amira,‘’This Morning, ITV’
/ref> "the woman most responsible for popularizing the idea of reclaiming hyper-femininity"''Mel Magazine’
/ref> in order to destigmatise women who are bimbos and to reclaim the term "bimbo". The term later re-entered usage by way of some members of
Generation Z Generation Z (often shortened to Gen Z), also known as zoomers, is the demographic cohort succeeding Millennials and preceding Generation Alpha. Researchers and popular media use the mid-to-late 1990s as starting birth years and the early 2 ...
seeking to further reclaim the pejorative, such as the "BimboTok" community on the social media platform
TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...
, where users engaged in stereotypical hyper-femininity to satirise
consumerism Consumerism is a socio-cultural and economic phenomenon that is typical of industrialized societies. It is characterized by the continuous acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing quantities. In contemporary consumer society, the ...
,
capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...
, and
misogyny Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against Woman, women or girls. It is a form of sexism that can keep women at a lower social status than Man, men, thus maintaining the social roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been wide ...
. The term is sometimes associated with men or women who dye their hair blond, indicating that physical attractiveness is more important to them than other, non-physical traits and as an extension to "the dumb blonde" stereotype.


Politics

In American politics, the word was used in the 1990s during Bill Clinton's sexual misconduct allegations, leading to the invention of the term " Bimbo eruptions" to refer to political sex scandals. The expression was also used in a 2014 report in which
Colin Powell Colin Luther Powell ( ; – ) was an Americans, American diplomat, and army officer who was the 65th United States secretary of state from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African-American to hold the office. He was the 15th National Security ...
explained his reluctance to vote for
Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...
in light of her husband's continued affairs with "bimbos". After the first 2015 Republican Presidential Debate,
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
re-tweeted a message calling debate moderator and
Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...
host
Megyn Kelly Megyn Marie Kelly (; born November 18, 1970) is an American journalist, attorney, political commentator, and media personality. She currently hosts ''The Megyn Kelly Show'', a talk show and podcast that airs daily on Sirius XM's Triumph channe ...
a "bimbo" via
Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
. This took place after Kelly asked Trump a question that referenced his television show '' The Apprentice'' from season 6 in 2005. Shortly afterwards, Stephen Richter of '' The Globalist'' published an opinion piece in which he accused Trump of being a bimbo, noting the original definition of bimbo as "an unintelligent or brutish male". In March 2024, the California First Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the lower court's decision to deny a woman's request to change her name to Candi Bimbo Doll, marking a notable legal development in American jurisprudence related to 'bimbofication'.


See also

* Himbo * It girl *
Sex and intelligence Sex differences in human intelligence have long been a topic of debate among researchers and scholars. It is now recognized that there are no significant sex differences in average IQ, though performance in certain cognitive tasks varies somewha ...
* Stereotypes of blondes


References


External links

{{wiktionary Female stock characters Pejorative terms for women Slang terms for women Stereotypes of women