What does femboy mean?
A femboy is a young man who exhibits traditionally feminine traits. “Femboy” is a portmanteau of “femme,” short for feminine, and boy, sometimes written as “femboi.” Femboys are associated with thigh-high socks, short skirts, nail polish, jewelry, long hair, and a soft, innocent look. Many animes have femboy characters, sometimes called otokonokos. Some examples of femboys are Nagisa from Assassination Classroom, Najimi from Komi Can’t Communicate, Kuranosuke from Princess Jellyfish, Hime from Himegoto, and Angel Dust from Hazbin Hotel. In some spheres, “femboy” is associated with transmisogyny (misogyny that specifically affects trans women). Although the term does not describe trans women, some people may feel that it does. Be mindful of who you use the term around and what kind of person you are using it to describe.
Femboy History
“Femboy” started as a derogatory term in the 1990s. Originally, femboy was a derogatory term for effeminate men, similar to “sissy.” The insult came out of a culture that denies men (and masculinity) the space to be soft, cute, or generally effeminate.
Femboys began to group themselves online in 2001. In the early oughts, a Yahoo! Group called “Boi Fancy” sprung up as a place for feminine men and gender non-conforming individuals alike to talk about glam, gender, androgyny, and their lives.
“Femboy” became a category on Pornhub in 2013. Within the femboy and LGBTQ community, the term isn’t explicitly sexual. However, as it gained popularity in mainstream media, it became sexualized and incorrectly conflated with being transgender. The proliferation of femboy pornography has permanently associated the term with sex in general culture. The sexualization and fetishization of femboys online may be in response to the difficulties some people can have with seeing alternative gender presentations as “normal.” It may be easier for people with strong opinions on what gender “is” to see femboy as a sexuality, instead of its own kind of masculinity.
Now, femboy is considered a “hybrid masculinity.” As the internet opens up spaces for different gender expressions and identities, there has been a wave of “hybrid masculinities—” masculine expressions that draw from marginalized male and female groups. These forms of masculinity are mostly adopted by wealthy, white, cisgender men, who feel the masculinity historically available to them does not express who they are. Racial minority, working class, and immigrant men are often codified with “regressive” masculine identities, due to the freedom of expression given to the upper social classes that is not extended to the majority of people. Men from more marginalized identities may find the most power and safety by following traditional Western masculinity.
LGBTQ Interpretations
Being a femboy isn’t the same thing as being transgender. Being a femboy doesn’t necessarily make a statement about your gender or sexuality—heterosexual cisgender men can be femboys, as well as trans, gay, and nonbinary people. “Trans woman” and “femboy” are not interchangeable terms. Some people argue that you must be male, trans or otherwise, to be a femboy, but others claim that any gender can be a femboy.
“Femboi” is a more LGBTQ-oriented term. “Boi”, a term which has historically referred to young, effeminate gay men, transmasculine and nonbinary youths, and tomboys, marks “femboi” as a more explicitly queer identity. As femboys have become more popular online, so has this alternative spelling.
Femboy Memes & TikTok
Many of the most followed male TikTokers use feminine aesthetics. Out of 43 of the most followed men on TikTok, almost all of them wore some sort of makeup, nail polish, jewelry, or other traditionally feminine accessories. This is likely because popularity on TikTok is heavily influenced by appearance. Popular femboys on TikTok aren’t necessarily trying to pave the way for expanded gender expression. Instead, they’re capitalizing on an app that highlights attractive creators.
Hashtags like “FemboyFriday” further popularized the term. The hashtag FemboyFriday began in April of 2014 and has become a staple on social media sites like X and TikTok. Posters use the hashtag with photos and videos of themselves dressed in thigh-highs, skirts, and maid outfits.
“Femboy Hooters” is a meme that took off in 2020. One of the most viral femboy memes is femboy Hooters, which came from @Comfy_Times’s October 2019 tweet: “hooters but [it's] staffed entirely by femboys.” This tweet created the “femboy hooters” trend, where people made skits and videos of the concept.
Protestors were labeled as femboys during the 2021 coup in Myanmar. After democratically elected prime minister Suu Kyi was forced out of office by the Myanmar armed forces, protests broke out, including those centering trans people and drag queens. Photographs from the protests went viral in some spheres, and protestors were inaccurately called “femboys.” Gay men cross-dressing, wearing makeup, and generally acting more effeminate is more common in Myanmar than it is in the West, so it’s likely there were some people who could be considered “femboys” at the protests. However, the central factor was that the protestors were in the LGBTQ community, which femboys aren’t necessarily a part of. While Suu Kyi’s government never officially promised to expand rights for the LGBTQ community (homosexual sex is still criminalized in Myanmar), queer individuals have always been at the forefront of political change and activism—this situation is no exception.
Related Terms
Roseboy Some people only see femboy as a slur against trans women (which it officially is not), and therefore decide to use other terms to describe effeminate young men. “Roseboy” is one of the most popular terms, but it carries its own negative connotations. It is derived from something explicitly sexual in nature, so some people find it offensive. This term is tricky to use since many of the people who find it offensive are femboys themselves.
Ladyboy People sometimes confuse “ladyboys” and “femboys.” Ladyboy is a term used to describe trans women, especially in Thailand and neighboring countries. Just like with “trans,” ladyboy and femboy are not interchangeable.
Sissy Sissy, like femboy, describes a soft, effeminate man or boy who interests himself in more traditionally feminine than masculine things. Like femboy, the term was originally an insult. The term has also picked up a pretty hefty sexual connotation and its own category of pornography.
Trap Trap is a highly offensive term in the trans community, but is sometimes used by femboys to describe men who cross dress so well that they pass as women. “Trap” implies that the person who is dressing like a woman is doing it to purposefully trick people. “Trap” has also been used to describe trans women (for the same reason), which is what makes it so offensive. In manga and anime, “trap” can be considered a character archetype—in some media, characters really are trying to trick people. However, the concept itself stems from transphobia, so many people don’t accept that there is an inoffensive way to use this term.
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