What Is A Femboy? The Slang Term Inspiring 'Femboy Hooters' Explained

The term 'Femboy' or 'Femboi' has existed on the internet since at least 2009, but has its origins in the LGBTQ+ community since the 1990s. In the past few years, memes about Femboys have become more prevalent online, particularly due to the popularity of effeminate content creators such as F1NN5TER on Twitch.

But what is a Femboy? And how did they become so popular online? Here's everything you need to know.

What Is A Femboy?

Femboys are men who exhibit feminine characteristics and signifiers like dressing effeminately, acting flamboyantly and other signs of stereotypically feminine behavior.

According to Dictionary.com, the word originally emerged in the 1990s, as a derogatory term for any man who didn't quite fit the traditional standards of masculinity. Eventually, the term was added to Urban Dictionary, when user EvaXIV published a definition for the term on June 22nd, 2009 (shown below).

How Did The Term Spread Online?

While the origin of the term is quite old, it only recently started becoming mainstream towards the end of 2019, when memes about femboys started to spread across the internet, especially on Instagram and Reddit. Soon, the meme also spread on Facebook, with the very first instance of a femboy meme being posted on November 27th, 2019 by the page e621.net (shown below).

How Are Femboys Used In Memes?

In the late 2010s and early 2020s, femboys became incredibly popular in meme culture, with a wide range of memes being made about them. One popular meme that blew up in late 2019 was Femboy Hooters, which originated from a tweet by @Comfy_Times (shown below, left). The tweet spawned a large number of art and memes regarding the idea of a Femboy Hooters, such as an image of the waiters of Femboy Hooters in action (shown below, right).

Other notable femboy memes blew up in the early 2020s, including Beware of the Pipeline, which originated from a February 6th tweet (shown below, left). Another popular meme that took off in 2021 was the submissive and breedable trend, which revolved around telling your male friends that they look 'submissive and breedable' (shown below, right).

For the full history of femboys, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.