Bimbo
Encyclopedia
Bimbo, in its popular English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 usage, describes a woman who is physically attractive
Physical attractiveness
Physical attractiveness refers to a person's physical traits which are perceived to be aesthetically pleasing or beautiful. The term often implies sexual attractiveness or desirability, but can also be distinct from the two; for example, humans may regard the young as attractive for various...

 but is perceived to have a low intelligence or poor education. The term can also be used to describe a woman who acts in a sexually promiscuous manner. The term itself is not explicitly negative, but is most often used as a derogative insult towards a woman.

Use of this term began in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 as early as 1919, where it was used as a slang term for an unintelligent or brutish male. Its first inclusion in an official dictionary for its female meaning was in 1929, where the definition was given simply as "a woman".

The term Bimbo is often associated with, but is separate from, the stereotypes of "Dumb Blonde" and "Valley girl
Valley girl
Valley Girl is a stereotype leveled at a socio-economic and ethnic class of American women who can be described as colloquial English-speaking and materialistic...

".

Meaning

The first usage of the term Bimbo in English was for an unintelligent male, although it now most commonly used to refer to a woman unless modified as male bimbo or himbo. For clarity, sometimes the explicitly female variant bimbette is used, which has also entered The American Heritage Dictionary
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language is an American dictionary of the English language published by Boston publisher Houghton Mifflin, the first edition of which appeared in 1969...

. Bimbette can be used to indicate a younger bimbo, as the suffix -ette signifies a smaller version
Diminutive
In language structure, a diminutive, or diminutive form , is a formation of a word used to convey a slight degree of the root meaning, smallness of the object or quality named, encapsulation, intimacy, or endearment...

.

In popular English, the term Bimbo tends to have two similar and often overlapping connotations. The first refers to an attractive woman with poor intelligence or education, while the second refers to a woman with low sexual inhibitions and who often acts in a promiscuous manner. With the popularisation of cosmetic surgery, a person who has undertaken such practices in order to increase the perceived attractiveness can also be referred to as a bimbo.

Although the term with its current meaning has always had negative connotations, in recent years its pejorative qualities have lessened so "bimbo" can also be used as a more neutral term. It has retained its definition as women who are attractive but perceived to be unintelligent or promiscuous, but in media such as women's magazines and gossip magazine
Gossip magazine
Gossip magazines feature scandalous stories about the personal lives of celebrities. This genre of magazine flourished in North America in the 1950s and early 1960s. The title Confidential alone boasted a monthly circulation in excess of ten million, and it had many competitors, with names like...

s the term is not specifically used in a negative fashion. Instead it is mainly utilized to imply the common traits associated with a bimbo and to classify a particular person as one.

In 2010, the Daily Mail reported that some research has suggested that women with low IQ - termed "bimbos" by the Mail - may seek to compensate this by seeking more materially secure and stable spouses in a variant of Darwinian sexual selection. This behavior may be the root of the 'gold-digger" aspect of bimbo stereotypes.

Appearance

Because of the association of the word with people in popular culture, the stereotypical bimbo appearance has become that of an attractive blonde woman with a curvy figure and large breasts, often wearing heavy makeup and revealing clothing. Despite this stereotype, however, none of the above mentioned traits are strictly needed for a person to be considered a bimbo. The common inclusion of blonde hair is due to the traditional European belief that blonde hair is beautiful and as an extension to the "dumb blonde
Dumb blonde
The blonde stereotype, the stereotypical perception of blond-haired women, has two aspects. On one hand, over the history, blonde hair in women has been considered attractive and desirable...

" stereotype.

English usage

This word derives itself from the Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

 bimbo, derived from bambino a masculine-gender
Grammatical gender
Grammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...

 term that means (male) baby or very young (male) child (bimbo's feminine equivalent is bimba). Use of this term began in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 as early as 1919, and was a slang word used to describe an unintelligent or brutish man.

It was not until the late 1920s that the term Bimbo began to be associated with females. The 1929 silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...

 Desert Nights
Desert Nights
Desert Nights, also known as Thirst, is a 1929 drama film. It was the last silent film for star John Gilbert. Two thieves victimize a diamond mine and kidnap its manager, but he gains the upper hand when they flee into the hostile desert.The film is available for download or DVD purchase from...

describes a wealthy female crook as a bimbo and in The Broadway Melody
The Broadway Melody
The Broadway Melody is a 1929 American musical film and the first sound film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture. It was one of the first musicals to feature a Technicolor sequence, which sparked the trend of color being used in a flurry of musicals that would hit the screens in 1929-1930...

, an angry Bessie Love calls a chorus girl a bimbo. The first use of its female meaning in the Oxford English Dictionary was in 1929, from the scholarly journal American Speech where the definition was given simply as "a woman".

An unintelligent man can be referred to as a 'himbo', a backformation of bimbo.

German usage

In Germany during the 19th and 20th century, the word "Bimbo" had the dual meaning as racist term for a person of African descent. The word in relation to its original meaning, however, is rarely used. Although sometimes the word "Bimbo" is used, associated but separate phrases, such as "dumme Blondine" (= "dumb blonde"), are more common instead.

Italian usage

In Italy, "Bimbo" is a common nice word, used as a diminutive of child. Child = Bambino = Bimbo.

Music

  • Bimbo (song)
    Bimbo (song)
    Bimbo was a popular song written in either 1948 or 1949 by Glenn O'Dell, but credited to Rodney Morris or "Pee Wee" King. The song was recorded by Gene Autry and originally released on vinyl as a 78rpm single in 1954. It can also be found on the 1998 album, Always Your Pal, Gene Autry...

  • In the 1990s, the Danish band Aqua
    Aqua (band)
    Aqua is a Danish dance-pop group, best known for their 1997 breakthrough single "Barbie Girl". The group formed in 1989 and achieved huge success across the globe in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The group managed to top the UK Singles Chart with their first three singles. The group released two...

     used the word Bimbo in their major hit Barbie Girl
    Barbie Girl
    "Barbie Girl" is a song by the Danish-Norwegian dance-pop group Aqua, who released the song in 1997 as their third single overall, and the first United Kingdom release...

    , using the dumb blonde
    Dumb blonde
    The blonde stereotype, the stereotypical perception of blond-haired women, has two aspects. On one hand, over the history, blonde hair in women has been considered attractive and desirable...

     archetype as well ("I'm a blonde bimbo girl..."), which was noted by Mattel
    Mattel
    Mattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Fisher Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from...

     in the legal conflict against Aqua and their record company for the representation of the popular Barbie doll.

Internet

  • A beauty contest game called Miss Bimbo
    Miss Bimbo
    MissBimbo.com is an online fashion game and a social networking site with a mainly female audience. Players look after a 'Bimbo' character as she progress through life....

     is an online game in which players attempt to use virtual characters to win contest, earn IQ points and impress virtual boys, through makeovers, clothing, exercise and the purchase of operations such as facelift
    Facelift
    Facelift is the common name for rhytidectomy, a cosmetic surgery procedure.Facelift may also refer to:* Facelift , the revival of a product through cosmetic means such as changing its appearance...

    s and breast implants. Although the game itself does not promote such activities in real life and is often viewed as a parody, it has received condemnation in the media from parent groups, especially in the British region.

See also

  • Blonde stereotype
  • Sex and intelligence
    Sex and intelligence
    Research on sex and psychology investigates cognitive and behavioral differences between men and women. This research employs experimental tests of cognition, which take a variety of forms. Tests focus on possible differences in areas such as IQ, spatial reasoning, and emotion.Most IQ tests are...

  • Valspeak
    Valspeak
    Valleyspeak or Valspeak is a common name for an American sociolect, originally of Los Angeles, California, in particular Valley girls. This stereotype, which originated in the 1970s, became an international fad for a certain period...

  • Valley girl
    Valley girl
    Valley Girl is a stereotype leveled at a socio-economic and ethnic class of American women who can be described as colloquial English-speaking and materialistic...

     and Essex girl
    Essex girl
    An Essex girl is a pejorative stereotype in the United Kingdom of a female who is said to be promiscuous and unintelligent, characteristics jocularly attributed to women from Essex. It is applied widely throughout the country and has gained popularity over time, dating from the 1980s and 1990s...

     carry similar connotations to a young bimbo or "bimbette", but are non-synonymous.
  • Kogal
    Kogal
    The kogal fashion involves wearing an outfit based on a Japanese school uniform, but with a shortened skirt, loose socks, and often dyed hair and a scarf as well. The phenomenon was prominent in the 1990s, but has since declined. The word "kogal" is anglicized from kogyaru, a contraction of kôkôsei...

     and Ganguro
    Ganguro
    Ganguro is an alternative fashion trend of blonde or orange hair and tanned skin among young Japanese women that peaked in popularity around the year 2000. The Shibuya and Ikebukuro districts of Tokyo were the centers of ganguro fashion...

     also carry similar connotations as a Japanese
    Japanese people
    The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

    version of a "valley girl" or bimbo.
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