About

Mother, often used in the phrase X Is Mother, is a slang term from LGBTQ+ culture that signifies an older, caregiving member of a queer community. While the queer practice of calling people "mother" can be traced back to the 17th century, the present use of the term can be traced to Black American ballroom culture, where community leaders were often referred to as "mothers." In 2023, "mother" began to be widely used in internet stan culture to refer to female pop stars.

Origin

Use of the term "mother" to refer to people who are not literally one's mother has been prevalent in LGBTQ+ communities for decades, with some scholars tracing it back to the late 1800s, and others drawing more direct linguistic lines to Black American ballroom communities in the 90s.^[1]

The term likely entered mainstream use with the rising popularity of shows like RuPaul's Drag Race. RuPaul dropped a song called "Call Me Mother" on March 23rd, 2017, gathering over 8.8 million views on YouTube^[2] in over five years (seen below).

In recent years, the popularity of queer and AAVE slang terms in stan culture has led to the word being used to applaud various pop stars. The earliest known notable instance of the word "mother" being used to describe a pop star is a March 22nd post from 2022, where Twitter^[3] user @ICYRIH posted a photo of Nicki Minaj, saying "the way she can do the messiest thing and then serve kunt an hour later she really is mother i’m sorry," gathering over 1,000 likes in over a year (seen below).

Spread

Use of the word "mother" to refer to pop stars and similarly celebrated women continued in subsequent months. On May 10th, 2022, Twitter^[4] user @cineilsa posted a tweet that read, "elizabeth olsen is MOTHER!" and gathered over 5,000 likes in over 10 months (seen below).

elizabeth olsen is MOTHER! pic.twitter.com/UZmgfiw0pp

— lina (@cineilsa) May 11, 2022

On May 26th, 2022, Twitter^[5] user @cruisespilled posted a tweet that read, "say it with me DOJA CAT IS MOTHER," gathering over 5,000 likes in over 10 months (seen below).

On September 16th, 2022, musician Rina Sawayama^[7] described a track as "mother music," gathering over 2,000 likes in over five months (seen below, left). On September 28th, 2022, Twitter^[6] user @korysverse posted a tweet celebrating the lead singer of the band Paramore, saying, "this is mother i don’t think y’all understand," and gathering over 13,000 likes in over five months (seen below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References