Girlboss

About

Girlboss is a term used both ironically and unironically online by males and females in Hustle Culture. The term, coined by Sophia Amoruso, has been seen by some as a proto-example of Sigma, with a lot of the same platitudes that apply to sigma males being used to describe Girlbosses years prior.

Origin

Girlboss was first coined by Sophia Amoruso while she was creating and leading the ecommerce company Nasty Gal, and it continued to be a cultural force for woman-owned and managed business in the following years^[1]. The term became the name of Sophia's book about her business empire, which was eventually turned into a Netflix comedy series. On April 3rd, 2017, the trailer for the series was posted to the official Netflix YouTube^[2] channel, where it gained 1.8 million views in five years (shown below).

Spread

Following the Netflix series, the term began to get used in memes and inspirational social media posts by female entrepreneurs and Feminists, who saw the term as a way to signal to other strong independent females who were on the hustle grind. The slang term was then incorporated into four other meme trends as the key component.

Related Memes

Girlfailure

Girlfailures or Girlfailure is a slang term referring to the opposite of a girlboss, simply defined as "an absolute loser of a female character" via a viral tweet sent in January 2023. The concept inspired many on Twitter to identify their favorite girlfailures in film, television and other media, satirically idolizing them similar to how some women idolize girlbosses online and in memes. The term "girlfailure" was first referenced on Tumblr in 2021, then it surfaced on Instagram in mid-2022.

Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girlboss

Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girlboss is a parody of the phrase "Live, Laugh, Love" used in a variety of shitposts, that began on Tumblr in January 2021. The phrase is used to mock the stereotypical sentiments of the typical "empowered feminist," with each term holding a negative connotation in reference to female empowerment.

Girlboss and Malewife

Girlboss and Malewife are gender-specific slang terms, popular on Tumblr, describing a specific type of woman and man based on their roles. "Malewife" describes a gentle, somewhat passive man who holds a number of traits stereotypically associated with a traditional wife.

They Hate to See a Girlboss Winning

They Hate to See a Girlboss Winning is an internet catchphrase ironically decrying society's displeasure towards an assertive woman's success. It is the point at which Girlboss memes began to be self-aware, and used in a more ironic sense, sometimes mocking the supposed hustle and grind of females.

I Am A Girlboss I Am A Warcriminal

I Am A Girlboss I Am A War Criminal refers to a copypasta parodying self-affirming mantras by mixing comedically boastful affirmations with extremely negative ones. The full quote reads, "i am a girlboss i am a war criminal i am a lunatic . i am clinically insane & the next virgin mary & i am never going to die." The quote has been used in numerous image macros that misattribute it to a fictional character.

Girlboss Today

Hyper-Pop artist Dorian Electra created a social media campaign and video series titled 'Girlboss Today' in which a WASP woman and wine drinker would do stereotypical girlboss things, as a play on the term and pushing the envelope of it, with several self-aware but enthusiastic twitter posts^[3] (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References