A lot of you have probably come across the recent discourse over the issue of gatekeeping in the bimbo community. This became a hot topic recently when a popular bimbo influencer started pushing the idea that cosmetic surgery is mandatory if you want to be a bimbo, and that if you don't have/want to permanently modify your body with surgery, you shouldn't call yourself a bimbo.
With the rise of "BimboTok" (bimbos on TikTok), bimbofication has been gaining notoriety in popular culture and becoming mainstream. If we scroll through the "BimboTok" hashtag on TikTok, we'll see a diverse community of people of all gender identities, aesthetics, and walks of life, feeling confident and having fun. What's so problematic about this? SOME OF THEM DON'T HAVE OR WANT BREAST IMPLANTS!
What is a Bimbo?
Let's take a minute to remind ourselves of the history of the word "bimbo." The word was originally used to describe unintelligent men in the early 1900s before it evolved into a derogatory term for unintelligent, attractive women, and then reclaimed over recent decades by proud dumb blondes, sex workers, trophy-wives, plastic surgery enthusiasts, sluts, and girly girls alike.
Bimbofication is not defined only as "a woman with lots of plastic surgery". That may be what it means to you, but that was not the origin of the word bimbo, nor has it ever been a direct definition of what a bimbo is. Even the dictionary will tell you that the word bimbo has nothing to do with plastic surgery. There was never a time in history when the word officially switched and gained its evolved meanings. There was no one who made the final decision on what qualifies a bimbo, and there is no one who holds that power.
You can be a bimbo if you're not blonde.
You can be a bimbo if you're not dumb.
You can be a bimbo if you're not a sex worker.
You can be a bimbo if you're not hypersexual.
You can be a bimbo if you're not plastic.
You can be a bimbo if you're into the bimbo aesthetic but not the bimbo lifestyle.
You can dress up as a bimbo on weekends and dress down the rest of the week.
Bimbofication needs to be personalized to your own tastes, style and needs. If you're doing it to conform to someone else rules, you'll never find happiness in it. Pick the traits and features that YOU want your ideal bimbo-self to have. You don't need to be a cookie-cutter bimbo. It would be so boring if we all looked exactly the same. Just have fun with it and don't let anyone tell you you're doing it wrong. The most important thing about bimbofication is making your fantasies into a reality.
Why Gatekeeping is Gross
Disrespectful to the natural icons who walked so we could run:
Are you really going to try to tell me that Paris and Nicole in The Simple Life weren't bimbos because they didn't have plastic surgery? Really? Self-explanatory, moving on.
We're becoming what we hate:
We complain about being discriminated against while discriminating against others. We don't want to be told what to do with our bodies, yet we tell others what to do with theirs.
We are so often bombarded by messages telling us that we're too much, or that we're not enough. It's frustrating and hurtful, isn't it? We created this ideal image of ourselves to our own liking, and we don't want to be judged or influenced into doing things that we don't want. So why does it make sense to do that to others?
"You need to call yourself an aspiring bimbo if you haven't had plastic surgery yet."
"You can't be a bimbo unless you _____"
"You can't be a natural bimbo forever."
Is that not judging and discriminating? Is that not body shaming?
Pick-Me Vibes
"I'm not like those fake TikTok bimbos, I'm one of the REAL bimbos."
Some people see this as a competition to feel superior to other girls, the more money you've spent on surgeries, the more cc's you have, the higher your worth is as a bimbo. This flex of wealth and privilege is not a good look. We could all be on the same team if you weren't out there trying to prove that you're better than everyone else.
Classist and Ableist
Not everyone has the funding or the physical ability to modify their body. There are many health conditions that can prevent people from being able to get cosmetic procedures. Should they be required to spend their whole lives calling themselves "aspiring bimbos" knowing they'll never be able to meet the "real bimbo" criteria that these elitists have made up?
By trying to turn the bimbo community into some exclusive club for plastic bimbos only, we are excluding people with disabilities or health conditions, and people who are living in poverty and just trying to experiment with fashion and makeup. That doesn't sit right with me, and it shouldn't sit right with you either.
It Hurts ALL Bimbos:
I can't tell you how often I get bimbos in my DM's saying they're struggling with feeling valid in the bimbo community.
"I hate wearing makeup"
"Some days I'm grungy and other days I'm hyper-feminine"
"I'm not blonde and I don't think I would look good with blonde hair anyway"
"I'm abstinent from sex and don't like being treated like a fuck-doll."
"I want to keep my face natural"
"I don't identify as female but I like dressing feminine sometimes."
"I have natural huge boobs and I want a reduction"
None of these reasons are good enough for you to give up on something that once gave you joy, motivation and power just because a few people are trying to take it away from you. This made-up community that was supposed to be built on self-improvement, self-expression, and self-love has turned into something that is doing the exact opposite.
Bimbofication is not that serious:
People are acting like dressing like a bimbo or calling yourself a bimbo without doing a full plastic transformation is somehow equal to cultural appropriation. Claiming, "being a bimbo is a lifestyle that takes 24/7 dedication, it's not a trend or an aesthetic." This is false, as proven by the very existence of the word "bimbocore", meaning bimbo aesthetic. People can enjoy a style without dedicating their whole life to it. Bimbo IS a fashion style and a trend. Some people only dress like bimbos when they have the energy for it, or when they're in a bimbo mood... and there's nothing wrong with that. Bimbofication means different things to different people. Bimbofication can mean throwing on a blonde wig and pink lipstick if that's what it means to you. Other people's bimbofication may involve other things, and there's also nothing wrong with that. What's wrong is invalidating another person's experience or goals because they're different from yours.
So while some argue, "You're not a bimbo unless you devote your entire life to it.", in reality, we are all multifaceted human beings with a million different life experiences and inborn traits that have impacted our tastes, personalities, and goals. If you devote your entire life to one thing, especially another person's definition of that one thing, (be it bimbo culture or any fetish, lifestyle, or interest), that's neither healthy nor realistic.
Another strong argument is that the "real bimbos" are sacrificing everything about themselves in devotion to this lifestyle, and if you can't handle making those sacrifices you can't be a bimbo. Sorry, but who asked you to do that? You chose to modify your body according to your tastes. If everything you do feels like a sacrifice, maybe bimbofication doesn't make you as happy as you believe it does, and you just want to judge other people because they find happiness through their bimbo journey and you don't.
Overall Cringe
Let's pretend that we're talking about a different subculture, such as goths. If I told you that you shouldn't call yourself a goth if you don't have black hair, and don't have any plans of dying it black, you'd laugh it off, wouldn't you? Why would I have the right to tell you how to express yourself? Like literally you guys, I need you to see what a middle-school mentality this is. We are not 13-year-olds who need to prove that we're more goth than the fAkE gOtHs. It's absolutely ridiculous and I'm ashamed to be part of a community that excludes people due to their body choices, finances, or physical abilities.
Let's Blame the REAL Issue: Misogyny.
This may be a hot take to all the anti-feminists out there, but in fact, there is no such thing as "bimbo hate" or "bimbo discrimination". Although bimbos obviously experience hate and discrimination, this is due to a much deeper issue, known as misogyny. Misogyny is the reason people give themselves permission to make comments about our bodies, judge us for having plastic surgery, shame us for our sexual expression, or make us feel unsafe or unwelcome in certain spaces. Everyone is affected by misogyny. People with plastic surgery experience misogyny. Sex workers experience misogyny. Trans and non-binary people experience misogyny. It's not some special type of discrimination that's exclusive to bimbos.
"But men treat me better than women do! That's not misogyny and that's why I'm not a feminist." No, that's called internalized misogyny. Women have been pitted against each other since the dawn of time and raised to see each other as competition and to judge other women based on their looks and sexuality. This is something we all need to unlearn and replace those subconscious behaviors with positivity and compassion towards ourselves and other women. The reason that you have had experiences with women judging you on your looks is that those women have been brought up by patriarchal values that they're projecting on you. This is an issue that feminism is trying to combat. The feminists are on our team, I promise.
Gatekeeping for Safety Purposes
The only people who should be kept out of the bimbo community are minors. Regardless of whether you see bimbofication as a lifestyle, fetish, or aesthetic, it is inherently sexualized and is not a safe space for teens or children. If you are a teen who is interested in bimbofication, you should keep that interest to yourself until you are of the legal age to start participating in it, rather than broadcasting it on the internet for creeps to prey on.
With that said, can a teen not be interested in early 2000s girly fashion, and express her style accordingly? Absolutely. We all had Playboy merch when we were teens, right? I mean, looking back on it, sure it's a little creepy, but who am I to tell you how to have fun with fashion?
The issue with minors in the bimbo community is that if you label yourself a bimbo, it automatically comes with a hypersexual connotation, whether or not you conform to that stereotype. So you WILL get predators in your DM's, and you may think "I'm so mature for my age, that's why all these older guys are into me." But these men will try to groom you and push you into things that you are not ready for, as much as you may feel ready. If you have an unquenchable interest in bimbofication and you are under 18, take time to observe and learn from the sidelines, without participating or exposing yourself to potentially dangerous situations. There is SO much mental, emotional and spiritual growth in your late teen and early adult years, give yourself time to fully learn who you are and who you want to be.
Plastic Doesn't Make a Bimbo
Plastic surgery is very common and advanced these days. People have so much control over their appearance, allowing them to morph their bodies into pretty much whatever they want them to be. This is great for bimbos, but it's also great for other people with a passion for body modification who are not bimbos. Not everyone gets plastic surgery with the intention of becoming (or looking like) a bimbo. So declaring that plastic surgery is what divides bimbos from non-bimbos is disrespecting a much larger community of body mod enthusiasts. I mean, by this logic, Anthony Loffredo, the black alien, would be a bimbo.
We Have Bigger Issues Than Self-Proclaimed Labels
Here's a short list of issues I think we should tackle before wasting our brain cells worrying about who is and isn't a real bimbo.
Misogyny, racism, fatphobia, transphobia, violence against sex workers, body dysmorphia, dangerous cosmetic procedures, minor safety, world war 3, classism, poverty, censorship, exploitation, ageism, stolen porn, leaked nudes, affordable healthcare, fast fashion, and bleach-damaged hair.
So, when you've solved all those real bimbo problems, come back to me and we can keep discussing this petty bullshit.
Conclusion
The main point I'm trying to make here is that...
✨OH MY GOD LITERALLY WHO CARES? ✨
If you want to be a bimbo, and you feel like a bimbo, it's not any deeper than that. Do you need a boob job to feel like a bimbo? I did, so I got a boob job. If you don't, then don't. I literally don't care what you do with your body. I'm too focused on my own bimbofication to care if every person calling themselves a bimbo fits exactly into my ideal definition. Bimbos should be positive and supportive toward each other. People who try to gatekeep a subculture, any subculture, are really just hiding behind labels to mask their own insecurity, which is totally understandable if you're 13 years old, but we're all adults here, so leave that shit on the playground and get over it. You guys literally have too much time on your hands if this is what you're worrying about. Just let adults have fun with fashion and body modification and explore different styles on their own terms.
