Reclaiming the Bimbo Label

Avril Lavigne, Brittany Spears, Paris Hilton, and Lindsay Lohan. What do all these names have in common? They’re all bimbos. Although I was born too late to fully grasp the idea of fashion in the 90s and 2000s, the idea of the bimbo aesthetic has always appealed to me from a young age.

Bimbos are typically characterized by a hyperfeminine style with being above other women in sex appeal, yet beneath them in intellect. In the late 90s-early 2000s, Playboy models turned screen actors such as Pamela Anderson, Jenny McCarthy, and Anna Nicole Smith were crucial in creating what we know today as the bimbo, described by The Take as “a big-breasted, blonde, brainless sex machine). Most frequently, they are criticized by other women for being appealing to the male gaze. 

The media has portrayed these women in a negative way since their debut. Urban Dictionary defines the term as “an attractive but empty-headed young woman, especially one perceived as a willing sex object,” especially with the trope of the “dumb blonde.” Some characters that feed into this stereotype include Karen Smith from Mean Girls and Brittany S. Pierce from Glee.

I think my first experience with bimbo culture was the first time I saw Hannah Montana on Disney. Maybe it was seeing someone that looked like me in the media or the catchy pop songs that my cousins and I would jam out to, but I admired her more than anyone else at that time. My room looked like Hannah Montana threw up on it, I only allowed my mom to play Hannah Montana in the car, even my seventh birthday party was Hannah Montana-themed.

My love for Hannah Montana played into my femininity from an early age. I loved playing dress up, having fashion shows, and the color pink has been my favorite for more than 10 years. I admired all the hyperfeminine characters in movies like Sharpay Evans in High School Musical and Regina George in Mean Girls, who fit the subtype of the bimbo, the hyperfeminine popular mean girl. From their sense of fashion to the way they presented themselves, they were all nerdy eight-year-old me who got all her clothes from garage sales wanted to look like.

The problem with these characters is that they were always painted out to be the antagonist, rarely having a character arc. Throughout their time on the screen, they exist to pit down the main character while flaunting their good looks for their male audience. Seeing this on the screen as I got older and realized how the media was portraying them, my interests started to shy away from the feminine side, and I started to dress in less girly colors since I viewed being feminine as negative.

Middle school is when my antifeminism peaked. Social justice warriors, or “SJWs” went viral on the internet for being aggressive towards men and their fragile egos. Wanting to fit in, I also made fun of these women and essentially became anti-feminist because I in no way wanted to be associated with these types of women. Eventually, that turned into making fun of women for any types of feminism and cracking anti-women jokes any chance I got (women belong in the kitchen, go make me a sandwich, etc.)

What I did not realize is that I was doing this to impress men. All of the boys at the middle school age are easily influenced by popular figures in the media, such as LeafyisHere, a popular anti-feminist gamer of the mid-2010s. His content was notorious for making fun of those blue-haired SJWs and wanting to fit in/appeal to men, I watched and absorbed that content.

After some time, that type of content died down in popularity and I still kind of just followed trends, including my clothes. I went to a private high school, so whatever fashion was considered popular was way out of my budget, and I wore a uniform since I was six anyway, so having my own sense of style seemed impractical. Since I worked, I managed to buy high-end clothing once in a while, but nothing like what most of the girls in my grade wore.

Eventually, quarantine hit during my junior year, and soon it did not matter what types of clothing I owned because all I wore were pajamas or my work outfit. However, throughout that time, bright colors and “kidcore” became a very popular clothing trend. Like many people, over the lockdown I decided to have an entire style change. As soon as the malls opened back up, stopped dressing like every other girl and started wearing what I liked.

I started dressing in lots of pink, wearing butterfly clips, and looking like I was straight out of a chick flick. It felt freeing to look like what I idolized for so long, I knew that younger me would have been so proud of what I looked like.

By dressing in this way, I feel as if I have helped contribute to the movement that is helping women reclaim the “bimbo” label. For the first thirty years that bimbos existed, they were only shown in a negative manner, with very few examples that diverged from that ditzy, sexy, bombshell blonde stereotype, such as Elle Woods from Legally Blonde.

The reason I, like many other girls joining the bimbo movement, dress like I do is a way to express and reclaim the femininity that girls have been shamed for. Why should a woman be ridiculed for expressing femininity? I love the color pink, I love wearing skirts, and I love painting my face with makeup!

This new wave of bimbo culture is all about self-love and reclaiming the label. I may dress like Sharpay, but I would never try and win over the star basketball player. I also might dress like Karen Smith, but my boobs cannot tell the weather.

Dressing in pink Juicy Couture tracksuits, little skirts, and blinged out outfits makes me feel like the best version of myself. Throughout my school years, confidence is something I truly struggled with due to bullying and not doing amazing in the romance world. Once I stopped worrying about what other people, especially men, thought of me, I’ve gotten a lot more compliments on my looks. I truly do have to credit that to dressing the way I want and radiating that confidence. Pink may not be everyone’s color, but a little bit of self-love and confidence looks great on everybody.