Many of you must have heard the term egirl (sometimes also spelled e girl or e-girl) along with its male counterpart eboy. But what does it mean and where exactly does it come from? Here’s a simple definition and a bit more context for those of you wondering.

According to Urban Dictionary, an egirl is “a species of emo usually found on TikTok that commonly spends time on Tumblr. They can be found wearing pink eyeshadow with a large wing, little hearts under the eyes and a blushed nose and normally wearing some type of shirt from urban outfitters over a long sleeve striped shirt. Commonly found doing the Me! Me! Me! dance but has probably never seen it before.”

As precise as this definition might be, it can also confuse more than it illuminates on the term. In simple words, egirl is a term now used to describe a specific look that certain girls can have on platforms such as TikTok, VSCO or even online gaming platforms.

The most common and recent definition of egirl is used for the young girls on the app TikTok but there are also previous definitions for the word. Here, we’ll have a look at the three most common types of egirl.

If you haven’t been on TikTok, the app that centres exclusively around enhanced micro-video content, things like egirl, VSCO girls, modern witches or TikTok ‘collab houses’ probably make no sense to you. But recently, TikTok became the number one app for gen Zers and even millennials.

Egirls gained popularity on the platform and are recognised as cute, fun and almost manga-like girls. The egirl films herself in her bedroom while she applies too much pink blush on her cheeks. Her hair is usually dyed in non-natural colours such as pink or blue (she might remind some people of the previously common emo girl).

E girls are TikTok girls who stand out from the crowd because of their unusual sense of fashion and makeup. From wearing too much blush and thick black eyeliner finishing with wings to drawing little hearts, crosses, or dots under their eyes, egirls usually look very childish in their short dresses with ruffles and bow in their hair. Many compare egirls to manga characters.

One of TikTok’s most famous egirls is Belle Delphine, who sold her used bathwater for $30 a pop to her online followers—the water sold out, by the way. She defined herself as a “weird elf kitty girl,” which is a good way of defining the TikTok egirl in general.

 

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The emo egirl is a similar version to the TikTok egirl, only she tends to wear more black and striped t-shirts underneath another small t-shirt. She also wears chokers, dark makeup and hair styles. The emo egirl might be part of TikTok’s witch community.

The gamer egirl is simply the egirl version of the gamer girl, which is used to distinct female gamers from the traditional male gamer demographic, but not without controversy. Often called ‘fake gamer girls’ or ‘gamer gurls’, these women are accused of feigning interest in video games to attract male gamers.

Egirls can also be a mix of the TikTok egirl, the emo egirl and the gamer egirl.

More recently, the term egirl has also been altered into something negative. It can often be used as an insult to describe attractive women on apps like TikTok or online game streaming platforms like Twitch. Some people use the term as another way of describing girls as ‘thot’ or ‘internet slut’.

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As stated above, eboys are the male counterpart of girls. On Urban Dictionary, the term eboy has for definition, “A boy that probably skates, has his nails painted with rings, wears beanies, maybe has a cute egirl girlfriend, always wearing vans and long sleeves or hoodies under tshirts, their hair is sometimes parted down the middle. They basically only exist on the internet unfortunately but we can still appreciate them on Instagram.”

According to some internet users, the term eboy comes from the shortened term ‘electronic boy’. Just like egirls, eboys are part of the youth subculture that emerged in the late 2010s and is almost exclusively seen on social media, notably popularised by TikTok. Their look is inspired by skater culture, 1990s to 2000s fashion, anime, K-pop, hip hop, and rave. Along the same lines are soft boys and VSCO girls.

Eboys, also spelled e boys or e-boys, meaning electronic boys, are good for this generation. Yes, I said it. Although perceived as an un-cool teen cliche as so many subcultures before (the e-boy name is often dragged with the same derision as hipsters in the 2010s or early aughts emo boys), they are also shedding light into the gen Z male psyche and dismantling toxic masculinity while they’re at it.

The fascination with eboy culture is often talked about in the media with the same enchantment as emo boy culture once was, and although the two subcultures are 10 years apart, the similarities between them are apparent. Both subcultures springing up at a time of the digital revolution, they mark the change of how masculine emotions, fashion, sexuality, and mental health are expressed—which feels timely as the world is going into deeper turmoil. Today’s teen boys are navigating through political, environmental, and social unrest while dismantling conventions of toxic masculinity in their everyday lives. From eboys’ thirst trapping (the internet term of posting raunchy photos on social media for attention) the internet with their alt-emo eboy outfits and sharp jawlines to the slow and inevitable revival of emo music, emo culture is being refiltered for gen Z through the eboy.

So, where did they come from? As it’s the internet where this movement was born and where it thrives, no one is quite sure, but most say they appeared around 2018 when TikTok grew in popularity. Many users described eboy culture as a mix of emo and rap, referencing rappers Yung Lean, Lil Peep, and My Chemical Romance’s Gerard Way as its forefathers. Sartorially, eboys are a mish-mash of BDSM harnesses and chains, 90s Leonardo Dicaprio curtain hairstyles and K-pop, wearing dangly earrings and shirts unbuttoned to the navel. Typically they are middle-class, white, suburban teen boys, producing clothing transformations, lip-syncing, or the signature eye roll and temple tap on TikTok. If you have no idea what any of those things are here is a Youtube tutorial for your viewing pleasure.

It’s hard not to see the parallels between the decade-apart subcultures. Both explored sexual fluidity and mental health, but in different contexts. Emo boys sported eyeliner and girl jeans and kissed guys (whether or not they were actually queer) while eboys express sartorial and sexual openness in a non-performative way as these liberations are now the social norm.

Don’t get me wrong, eboys can be annoying as hell. According to the countless Reddit threads of users, eboys are seen as “talentless fuckboys pretending to be lonely and depressed for clout and attention”. One Reddit user labelled them “as just another term for 2019 emo but a more socially acceptable version as an eboy”. As they are rarely seen in real life, eboys experience very little backlash for their looks, unlike their predecessors, who were ridiculed or even physically harassed for the way they looked. Performatively sad, these boys could easily be seen as posers, but they don’t care. Perhaps that’s the point. It’s not about authenticity, it’s about aesthetics—it’s the bad boy persona without actually being bad.

But eboys are more woke than their emo forefathers and mothers (Billie Eilish I’m looking at you). As emo ethos collides with gen Z ideals, e-boy culture represents the rejection of what it means to be a ‘man’. As toxic masculinity is slowly breaking down, the entire definition of masculinity is changing. Compared to the mid-2000s when emo boys were constantly ridiculed for being too feminine or expressing their emotions, gen Z guys are more open to talking about their feelings and comfortable dressing however they want. Arguably, gen Z’s are free to feel good about themselves and care about improving their looks. Throughout numerous Reddit threads, teen guys discussed jokingly (or not) how transforming into an eboy would solve their problems. They want to be desired, and as sexual orientation is loosely defined, the aim for eboys is not to attract just girls or guys– but to attract everyone. They don’t want to be the players, they want to be the prize.

Eboy culture also has a healthy view on drugs and sex. Similar to straight edge emos, these eboys don’t really promote drugs in their videos. Perhaps an occasional cigarette, Juul or joint, but drugs don’t seem to be the go-to vice for them. It’s clout that they’re addicted to.

Whether it’s a subculture or an aesthetic movement,  what’s wrong with a bit of self-love? The eboys aren’t promoting drug-use or causing harm to anyone. Thirst for public approval and a desire to belong and not belong at the same time isn’t a description of eboys but of teenagehood overall. The revival of emo culture is so timely because of the 21st-century male. But this time around eboys will be seen in a different light. So let the eye rolls and temple taps commence…