Femboy: Difference between revisions

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== 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<ref>https://7esl.com/femboy/</ref>.

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.<ref>https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/femboy-hooters</ref> 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 <ref>https://www.reddit.com/r/feminineboys/</ref> is an example of one such community that opposes the stereotype of femboys being fetishistic in nature. There is also the Tiktok hashtag of #femboyfriday which has even recieved media attention via a Vice article <ref>https://www.vice.com/en/article/3az4nn/femboys-tiktok-fashion-gen-z</ref>, which is positive in nature but somewhat mischaracterizes the identity as just a trend.

Popular femboy internet personalities who identify as femboys include Femboy Fishing<ref>https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqq5t2vi_G753e19j6U-Ypg</ref> and Mako Rays<ref>https://www.youtube.com/c/MakoRays/featured</ref>.