Femboy, also known as tomgirl, rosboy, janegirl,[1] or calicogirl, is a term for gender non-conforming mingender and miaspec individuals who present femininely in some way. This often refers to clothing and external appearance, but can also sometimes refer to the way one acts, the way one communicates, what interests or hobbies on has, etc. This term has more to do with gender presentation than gender identity, but some femboys may be fingender.
Similar terms include rosboy, melle, and femboygender. Some achillean or vincian femboys may identify as twinks. The counterpart to femboy is tomboy.
History
Femboy originated in the 1990s as a derogatory term for male-identified individuals who were perceived as or presented feminine, though it has taken on a more positive meaning for men with feminine gender expression among the LGBT+ community[2].
The term and identity of femboy became more popular throughout the 2010s, with flags being created for it as early as 2017, as well as many internet users identifying as such. However due to many outside the community fetishizing femboys the identity also started to take on the stereotype of being purely sexual.
In late 2019 and early 2020, several Twitter users joked about the concept of a Hooters staffed by femboys, and from March to June 2020, "Femboy Hooters" became a very popular internet meme.[3] This meme brought a large wave of attention and popularity to the femboy community, as well as more of a push for femboys to be seen for who they are instead of being sexualized.
There are popular femboy communities on Tiktok, Twitter, Instagram, Discord, and Reddit, both NSFW and SFW in nature. The subreddit r/feminineboys [4] is an example of one such community that opposes the stereotype of femboys being exclusively fetishistic in nature. There is also the Tiktok hashtag of #femboyfriday which has even received media attention via a Vice article [5]. The article paints femboys in a positive light but somewhat mischaracterizes the identity as just a trend.
Popular femboy internet personalities who identify as femboys include F1nn5ter[6], Femboy Fishing[7] and Mako Rays[8].
Flag
The pink and blue femboy flag was created by Amino app user "Jay", and posted to the "Lesbians Unite" Amino community along with the Tomboy flag on April 28, 2017. [9] The light blue comes from the transgender flag. It stands for the masculine-aligned or man-aligned gender, but has only one stripe because it isn't the most important aspect of this identity. Pink represents femininity and gender non-conformity. It is on the outside of the flag because it is one of the first things individuals will notice about a femboy, and it is the most important and distinct part of this identity. The white stripes represent transgender and non-binary femboys.[9]
The orange, white, and black Tomgirl flag was made by Imgur user officialtomgirl on July 20th, 2017. There is no known meaning behind the colors.[10]
The purple and green femboy flag was designed by Mod Hermy as late as January 19, 2018. The green gradient represents fluctuations in masculinity and neutrality. The purple gradient represents different intensities of femininity.[11]
The pink and orange femboy flag was created by Fandom user ZRKMRK as of June 8, 2021. The colors are feminine, and the orange color is from the meme. The symbol at the hoist is a stylized male symbol (♂) and the white hoist represents enby femboys.
The Tomgirl flag was made by Tumblr user beyond-mogai-pride-flags on Feburary 8th, 2020. It is based on the Tomboy flag by Amino app user "Jay", but takes the orange stripe from the Tomgirl flag by officialtomgirl.[12]
Resources
- ↑ https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/janegirl
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20191230111546/https://7esl.com/femboy/
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20231006105425/https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/femboy-hooters
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20240210183907/https://www.reddit.com/r/feminineboys/
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20240222221827/https://www.vice.com/en/article/3az4nn/femboys-tiktok-fashion-gen-z
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20240128211057/https://www.twitch.tv/f1nn5ter
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20231123193843/https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqq5t2vi_G753e19j6U-Ypg
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20230924153340/https://www.youtube.com/c/MakoRays
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 https://web.archive.org/web/20240106191914/https://aminoapps.com/c/lesbiansunite/page/blog/femboy-and-tomboy-flags/o3Jo_rzeidu7442G3aqX4Pdbkn0dNQpzalm
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20240226100444/https://imgur.com/t/flag/uZ96t
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20230510234256/https://www.deviantart.com/pride-flags/art/Femboy-726380690
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20231207202357/https://beyond-mogai-pride-flags.tumblr.com/post/190719299545/tomgirl-pride-flag