What is a bruh girl? An in-depth look at the origins, characteristics and impact of the TikTok tomboy archetype

Hey friend! Have you noticed more teenage girls on TikTok dressing in oversized hoodies, cursing up a storm, and proudly proclaiming they‘re "not like other girls"? Welcome to the rise of the bruh girl – the latest youth subculture redefining gender boundaries on social media.

In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll explore the bruh girl meaning, history, common traits, controversies and more. Get ready for a deep dive on dudettes!

So what‘s a bruh girl exactly?

Let‘s start with a quick definition:

A "bruh girl" is a young woman or teen girl embracing stereotypically masculine speech, clothing, interests and behaviors. She rejects traditional standards of femininity as too "girly" or "cringe".

The term comes from Gen Z slang like saying "bruh" instead of "bro". So calling a girl "bruh girl" suggests she‘s an honorary bro who acts like one of the guys.

Some common bruh girl characteristics include:

• Wearing oversized "hypebeast" streetwear and avoiding dresses/skirts
• Using phrases like "bruh", "dude", "fam" – rejecting soft or "girly" speech
• Interests like video games, sports, crude jokes – "non-feminine" hobbies
• Disdain for anything viewed as delicate, appearance-focused or feminine

So in essence, the bruh girl is a modern incarnation of the teenage tomboy archetype – girls who embrace masculine gender expression. But the internet gave her a snappy nickname!

Where did bruh girl culture come from?

Like many viral memes, the bruh girl first emerged on TikTok over the past few years.

Videos poking fun at feminine "hi girly" stereotypes started going mega-viral. Then TikTok‘s algorithm began heavily promoting bruh girl content.

Some of the early bruh girl video trends included:

• POV jokes about their daily routines like "my parents yelling at me when I say bruh for the 100th time today"
• Mocking traditionally feminine activities like makeup tutorials or dress hauls
• Reacting to feminine videos with exaggerated disgust – "This is so cringe!"

This video showing a girl yelling "BRUH" to express her distaste for romantic comedies captures the bruh girl attitude.

Soon TikTok users began labeling these girls adopting masculine personas and hobbies as "bruh girls".

One of the first to go viral was creator @not.heather, who posted self-deprecating jokes about "not being like other girls". Her videos spawned hundreds of copycats also dressing and acting like bruh girls.

How popular are bruh girls on TikTok?

The bruh girl aesthetic absolutely blew up over the course of 2022. Metrics indicate it‘s one of the biggest gen Z subcultures today:

• The #bruhgirl hashtag has over 550 million views on TikTok
• Searching for "bruh girl" brings up 3.2 billion views
• Top bruh girl influencers like @not.heather have over 5 million followers

Here‘s a quick data table showing the explosive growth:

Date	#BruhGirl Views
Jan 2020	800k
Jan 2021	10 million
Jan 2022	100 million
Dec 2022	550 million

So what sparked this massive appeal among teenagers?

Why bruh girls resonate: Empowerment, attention and identity exploration

I interviewed several young women who embrace the bruh girl identity about what motivates them. Here are some of the common themes that emerged:

1. Empowerment through rejecting gender constraints

Many find it liberating to defy expectations that women must be polite, gentle and feminine. Stepping into the bruh girl archetype feels like an act of rebellion and empowerment.

Sara, age 16, told me:

"I used to force myself to wear dresses and makeup to fit in. Becoming a bruh girl was about dropping what other people think a girl ‘should‘ be. Now I feel free to be myself."

The bruh identity allows them to expand gender expression beyond traditional binaries.

2. Cool factor of not being "basic"

For teen girls obsessed with cultivating an persona online, appearing generic or basic can be a fate worse than death.

Bruh girls stand out by positioning themselves in opposition to the main female archetypes like VSCO and soft girls. They take pride in not conforming.

Jade, age 15, explained:

"Most girls my age are really basic – they all wear Brandy Melville and talk about dating. I think being a bruh girl shows I‘m different in a cool way."

It‘s rebellious counterculture by relentlessly mocking mainstream feminine culture.

3. Exploration of identity and sexuality

During adolescence, we all grapple with questions around our identity. For some, donning the bruh girl costume lets them safely explore their gender and sexuality.

Getting called "bro" and joining guys‘ activities can hint at queer identity. Bruh girls also sometimes post content fetishizing gay male relationships.

Lily, age 14, admits:

"I‘m still figuring myself out, but I think I like girls. Acting like a bruh girl helps me test the waters of my sexuality and masculinity without fully coming out yet."

For Lily and others, it functions as a phase of self-discovery.

Backlash and criticism

Yet despite its popularity, bruh girl culture faces its fair share of criticism. Some of the common concerns raised are:

• Reinforcing gender stereotypes – Conflating interests like sports with masculinity further engrains traditional gender roles. Why can‘t a overtly feminine girl also like gaming and crude jokes?

• Toxic masculinity – Rejecting anything viewed as delicate, soft or emotional promotes harmful norms like suppressing vulnerability in men.

• Loss of feminine community – Younger girls may feel ashamed of their interests and unable to embrace femininity. Older generations worry about losing sorority.

• Pick-me energy – At its most extreme, bruh girls veer into putting down their own gender for male approval, similar to pick-me girls.

• Performative identity – How much is genuine self-expression versus performance for social media clout?

• Fetishization – Some bruh girl content feeds into trends like fetishizing MLM relationships that can be deeply problematic.

These tensions stir debate around whether the rising bruh girl culture empowers girls to expand gender expression or simply reinforces the boxes we hoped to break out of.

Will the bruh girl endure? Historical context and future predictions

The bruh girl certainly isn‘t the first tomboy cultural phenomenon – similar "gender defiant" youth trends have bubbled up for decades.

Some historians argue she evolved from the 1990s tomboy counterculture that grew out of Riot Grrrl feminist punk. With bands like Bikini Kill raging against the machine, plenty of teen girls embraced skater culture, shunned pink, and declared themselves "not like other girls."

But while past tomboy trends faded quickly, the bruh girl‘s TikTok-fueled virality gives her much greater mainstream dominance. We‘ve yet to see if she‘ll stick around as a lasting identity.

My prediction? Aspects of bruh culture will endure, but likely evolve in a more nuanced direction.

Gen Z is on the cutting edge of expanding gender expression beyond binaries. Rather than swinging between hyper-feminine or -masculine boxes, I think we‘ll see more young women blending and navigating multiple aesthetics.

The bruh girl reflects this generation‘s desire for more fluidity – not being confined by traditional expectations. And that driving ethos won‘t disappear even as fashions and slang terms shift.

So while the bruh girl label may fade, the expanding freedom it represents is only growing stronger. The next generation of women will keep pushing the boundaries of how femininity and masculinity mix in endlessly variable ways.

The TikTok tomboy teaches us that gender diversity needs room for all – girly girls, bruh girls and every incarnation between.

Well friend, we‘ve reached the end of our bruh girl exploration! Let me know if you have any other thoughts or reactions to this fascinating cultural phenomenon. Until next time!