I was today years old when I discovered “bimbo Tik Tok.” Bimbo is traditionally a misogynistic word for blondes with curvaceous bodies, oversexualized images and ditzy personalities. I should warn I have not fully discovered bimbo tok — I’ve only seen the queen of it: Chrissy Chlapecka.
Chrissy reclaims the word “bimbo” by being one, but with a twist — she’s also a leftist advocate. Chlapecka’s TikTok bio consists of her pronouns, “BLM” and “defund the police.” Her videos are often inclusive using verbage such as “to all my girls, gays, theys or nonbinary babes.” She wears the perfect “dumb girl” accent, cakes her face with makeup and glitter and wears hyper-sexualized blouses, skirts and dresses. She prides herself on telling her followers how gorgeous they are, telling them that sh*tty men aren’t worth their time, stomping on Trump supporters (metaphorically mostly) and being purposefully “dumb.” She also often mentions how “hot” she is and occasionally hints at past trauma.
Chlapecka often refers to sh*tty men in her videos, although she does not always explicitly say she’s referring to them. This leads to many men commenting on how she’s a misandrist. I’d like to say upfront that misandry does exist, but systemic misandry does not. These men will often bring up instances of women not having to go to war or women always winning custody of a child. I would like those men to ruminate on why these occurrences even happen. The answer is women are seen as fragile and society often says their only purpose is to take care of children. Women didn’t just decide men have to go to war. Women aren’t necessarily better parents on a case-by-case basis either. But that also stems from women being “caretakers” and that stems from misogyny created by the patriarchy.
Misandry exists, and straight cis-men deserve to portray emotion without being ridiculed (the patriarchy affects men too hence higher suicide rates). They deserve to express themselves however they want. But why is it often conveniently under the comment of women posting their struggles with their relationships with men or bringing awareness to the systemic oppression we do face? Chrissy certainly is not here for it and neither am I.
Chlapecka is impeccable at portraying a “bimbo” with her seeming inability to count to four, crashing into doors and mispronouncing easy words. She remixes this with addressing abusive men, body positivity, raunchy content and tackling issues such as capitalism and the death penalty. She’s a masterpiece of the fourth-wave-feminism that second-wave feminists would despise and shame. Nonetheless, Chrissy Chlapecka is what 2021 needs to address taboo topics, be bold and unapologetically yourself.
Follow Chrissy Chlapecka on Tik Tok @chrissychlapecka