What is Bimbofication?
Why Women Are Abandoning Intellectual Pursuits
In the past two years, primarily on TikTok, there has been a rise in “bimbo culture,” but not in the way that you might think.
Traditionally, “bimbo” is used as a derogatory term towards attractive, sexualized women that are relatively naive or uneducated. Bimbos were treated as characters for our entertainment, from Cher in Clueless to Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie in A Simple Life. Even a film like Legally Blonde is meant to highlight the juxtaposition of Elle Wood’s academic success as a bimbo.
But the current wave of radical feminism has sought to reclaim the term bimbo to simply describe a woman that is primarily concerned with kindness and her own happiness. Arielle Richards stated in her Vice article that “Bimboism says you don’t have to be unintelligent to choose happiness — you just need to focus on things that actually matter, like community, setting an example and building others up,” which has continued to evolve over the past year.
“Bimbofication” is the idea that the thirst for knowledge that many of us felt as teenagers and young women can become a heavy burden to carry, and that it’s more fulfilling to live a mindful existence free of the pressure of proving yourself intellectually to (primarily) men. While it may sound like a nihilistic approach, it’s actually an incredibly reasonable response to the state of the world. It can be exhausting to know that regardless of how much work you put in, there will still be discrimination and income inequality.
Modern bimboism actually has very little to do with actual intelligence, or lack thereof, but more so with the conscious decision to invest in things that more directly improve your quality of life — things like friendship and self love. Being a woman in academia, or even just a generally “smart woman” can quickly turn into fighting for recognition or having to go above and beyond to be considered on the same level as your male counterparts.
The women leaning into bimbofication aren’t necessarily unintelligent — they’re quite the opposite, actually. It takes a certain level of knowledge and awareness of both yourself and the world around you to realize that, sometimes, it’s just not worth it for everyone to know how smart you are.
This concept of weaponized unintelligence isn’t new, the bimbos and gold diggers of the past were practicing just that. While sometimes it has a lot to do with pretty privilege, oftentimes it’s easier just to let people think that the lights are on but no one’s home. It can be a huge advantage to let people underestimate you and take advantage of opportunities that no one thinks you would go after anyway — if no one sees you as competition, you essentially have no competition.
I’ve felt this myself, specifically after I dropped out of college and my peers and coworkers had no reason to see me as an intellectual or academic anymore. Truthfully, I’m just not concerned with competing to be the smartest person in the room anymore. If no one’s going to listen to me or take me seriously anyway, why bother?
Don’t worry — the bimbos have already thought about all of that. Their idea is that it’s better to just let people see you as below them instead of arguing or feeling the need to prove yourself. While bimboism was originally a term for how women were perceived, it’s not anymore — it’s a lifestyle choice. It doesn’t matter to bimbos how other people see them, because they’ve accepted that they have no control over that anyway. Feeling secure within yourself is ultimately much more valuable than being swayed by what other people think of you.
This is modern feminism’s direct response to the “girlboss” ideals we’ve seen in the past decade, which essentially aligned white women with white men in terms of capitalist and patriarchal societal standards. Girlbosses were pushed to stretch themselves thin, to step on people on their way up the corporate ladder, and taught that financial freedom was the key to full liberation.
Girlboss feminism focused on career goals and financial security rather than more traditionally “feminine” pursuits like physical beauty or motherhood. It urged women to think and behave more like men, toxcitity and all, as an attempt to take advantage of the patriarchy — hence the name girlboss.
I won’t spend too much time talking about the undercurrents of girlboss culture, but it’s clear to see how this was only really an option for privileged, educated, and probably already wealthy white women. Luckily, bimbo philosophy isn’t tied to one specific look or lifestyle.
It’s also worth mentioning that attractive women and intelligent women are usually thought to be mutually exclusive. This is thanks to the modern perception of what a bimbo is — if you’re bleach-blonde, have had work done, or are generally conventionally attractive, most people aren’t going to assume that you’re a genius. Bimboism realigns the focus on doing whatever makes you feel good, whether that be physically, mentally, socially, or sexually. Liking traditionally feminine things and doing things that make you feel good about yourself have nothing do with intelligence, and if someone wants to associate the two then bimboism says that’s their problem.
The new-age bimbo focuses on self love and radical empathy as a means of resistance. The weight of the world can get too heavy for all of us sometimes, and there’s nothing wrong with getting back to basics. The core of bimboism is this: love yourself unapologetically and wholeheartedly, care for those around you and always stand up for what’s right, and don’t let anyone else’s perception of you define who you are.
We can all learn something from bimbos — for me, it’s that the way the world sees me has no effect on what I know to be true about myself. A mindful, meaningful existence full of things that make me genuinely happy has brought me much more peace than fighting for a place in a world that wasn’t built for women anyway.
By reclaiming the word bimbo, we are all learning that there is no wrong way to be a woman. There is nothing wrong with being an academic or a career woman, just like there’s nothing wrong with being a stay at home mom or getting plastic surgery. The way the world sees women is evolving, as is the way we see ourselves.