Himbo
Himbo, a
Etymology and definitions
Several dictionaries cite 1988 as the first time the word himbo was used. By then, the word bimbo, which earlier in the 20th century had been used for both males and females, was being used predominately for females, so himbo, a combination of "him" and "bimbo", was coined to refer specifically to males.
Partridge defines himbo as "a man objectified by his good looks and presumed lack of intellectual qualities, a man who trades on this image, a gigolo".[3]
Merriam-Webster's definition is "an attractive but vacuous man".[1]
As the word generated popularity in the early 2020s, the word himbo began to be associated with a positive masculine archetype of being attractive, stupid, but also kind and goodhearted, as the "human version of a golden retriever—beautiful, incredibly well-intentioned, and dumb."[4]
Use in popular culture
20th century
In 1995, Sherri Sylvester of CNN interviewed male Hollywood celebrities about the use of the term "himbo" and sexual objectification of men in entertainment and received a range of reactions. "There's a great word," said actor Keanu Reeves. "I love that. I read that and laughed my head off." Tom Selleck said he was "always flattered to be called a sex symbol" but Sylvester Stallone said he had fought "the stereotype that brawny means brainless" for years. David Charvet of Baywatch noted, "You find yourself doing a show for three years where you are sticking your chest out and your shoulders are back and you're holding in your stomach and you realize that that's so boring after a while."[5]
In a 1994 interview, sociologist Michael Kimmel, who analyzes the himbo stereotype in his book Manhood in America: A Cultural History, said there are two types of himbos, those created for women, like the model Fabio, and those created for men, like Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone. The man's himbo, says Kimmel, is usually known for having some kind of prowess, like Charles Atlas or Stallone, whereas the woman's himbo is 'kinder and gentler' like Woody Harrelson or, like Fabio, "a male Zsa Zsa Gabor... famous for doing very little."[6][7]
"You could legitimately call it a victory for men, that we now have men famous for doing nothing," Kimmel noted. He also observes that the origin of the himbo stereotype can be seen in mid-twentieth century television shows, whose audiences were primarily women, "that traditionally present Mother as the all-wise and Father as a bit of a bumbling idiot".[6]
In her 1995 book Beyond the Double Bind: Women and Leadership, communications professor
Season 1 Episode 8 of the TV series Oh, Grow Up was called "Himbo" (1999).[9]
21st century
In 2006,
By the early 2000s, himbo was frequently being used in entertainment. In an interview for the 2004 documentary Frodo Is Great... Who Is That?!!, Jemaine Clement stated that fans of the eponymous Lord of the Rings extra "[make] him out to be quite a himbo".[11] A 2006 episode of the TV series Freddie was called "Freddie the Himbo".[12] In 2007, the Ugly Betty character Daniel Meade was described as a "himbo" in Season 1, Episode 11 of the show.[13]
Lauren Bans of
In the chapter "Let's Hear it for the Boy Toy" of their book The Hookup Handbook: A Single Girl's Guide to Living It Up, authors Jessica Rozler and Andrea Lavinthal describe a variety of himbo 'types' such as actors, bartenders, models, and personal trainers, as well as identifying features of different kinds of "Himbo Hookups", including The Beauty and The Beast Complex, the Sugar Mama, and so on.[15]
Noreen Malone of The New Republic correlates the rise of the himbo stereotype and its "ornamental masculinity" in 2012 with the disappearance of opportunities for 'real expressions of manly manliness', especially for working-class men, as well as to a shift in power dynamics between men and women.[16]
In the early 2020s, after a Twitter user called the term himbo "ableist", a flurry of news articles and commentary about the term appeared, some of which defended the positive attributes of the himbo stereotype, like emotional intelligence and loyalty.[17][18][19]
Synonyms
Synonyms for himbo include bimboy, mimbo,
The Jamaican version, according to Dancehall Dictionary, which defines himbo as "a young man paid for his sexual services by an older woman", is 'tadpole'.[22]
In a speech on
In a
Some commentators have continued in the late 20th and early 21st centuries to use the original term "bimbo" when referring to someone as an unintelligent, vacuous, or brutish man, such as a reporter's description of Dan Quayle[25] or Stephen Richter's reflections on Donald Trump.[26][27] In 2020, Biden got the same treatment.[28]
References
- ^ a b c Merriam Webster Dictionary, retrieved January 22, 2017
- ^ Etymology online retrieved January 23, 2017
- ^ a b Tom Dalzell, Terry Victor, The Concise New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, Routledge, Nov 27, 2014
- ^ [1] Morgan Sung, In defense of himbos: the hot simple men I love to love, Mashable, Jun 22, 2020
- ^ Sherri Sylvester, "Hollywood Hunks-Just a Bunch of Himbos", CNN Los Angeles, 1995
- ^ a b Susan Campbell, "Man As Object Becomes A Himbo", The Sun-Sentinel, June 16, 1994, retrieved January 23, 2017
- ^ Michael S. Kimmel, Manhood in America: A Cultural History Oxford University Press, 2012 -
- ^ Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Beyond the Double Bind: Women and Leadership, Oxford University Press, 1995, p. 193-194
- ^ TV Guide, 1999, retrieved January 23, 2017
- ^ Girls Can Be Bimbos, Can Guys Be Himbos? Today, 2006, retrieved January 23, 2017
- ^ Frodo Is Great... Who Is That!!? Extended Cut (2004), retrieved 2022-04-19
- ^ TV Guide, 2006, retrieved January 23, 2017
- ^ "Ugly Betty: Children with issues | EW.com". Entertainment Weekly.
- ^ Lauren Bans, "The Rise of the Himbo: Bimbos with Balls," GQ, May 9, 2012
- ^ a b Jessica Rozler, Andrea Lavinthal, The Hookup Handbook: A Single Girl's Guide to Living It Up, Simon and Schuster, Jun 15, 2010
- ^ Noreen Malone, The Rise of the Himbo, Why Playing Dumb Is Working For Ryan Lochte, New Republic, August 2, 2012
- ^ "What's a Himbo? And Why Is the Internet Obsessed With Them?". InsideHook. 2020-08-06. Retrieved 2022-05-01.
- ^ Whalen, Andrew (22 June 2020). "What Is a 'Himbo' and Is It OK to Say?". Newsweek.com. Retrieved 2022-05-01.
- ^ Elan, Priya (26 June 2020). "The return of the 'himbo': the antidote to toxic masculinity | Fashion". The Guardian. Retrieved 2022-05-01.
- ^ Miles Jaffe, The Hamptons Dictionary: The Essential Guide to Class Warfare, Red Wheel Weiser, Apr 1, 2008
- ^ Tony Thorne, Dictionary of Contemporary Slang, A&C Black, Feb 27, 2014
- ^ Joan Williams, Shawn Grant, Dancehall Dictionary: Learning to speak like a Jamaican, Joan williams, Feb 2, 2014
- ^ Anna Lind Thomas, Hooking Up, Alcohol Sex and Regret, Chico State University, p. 31
- ^ Linda Thomas, Shân Wareing, Language, Society and Power: An Introduction, Routledge, Sep 10, 2012
- ^ Kathleen Hall, Beyond the Double Bind: Women and Leadership, Jamieson Oxford University Press, 1995
- ^ Stephen Richter,"Donald Trump is the True Bimbo", Salon.com, August 12, 2015
- ^ Stephen Richter, "Donald Trump Outs Himself as a Bimbo," The Globalist, April 4, 2016
- ^ Tennessee Star, May 9, 2020 Crom Carmichael explains why Joe Biden is a bimbo.