Boi (slang)

Boi (plural: bois) is slang within gay male and butch and femme communities for several sexual or gender identities.[1][2] In some lesbian communities, there is an increasing acceptance of variant gender expression, as well as allowing people to identify as a boi.[3][4][5]

The term has also been used, independently of any meaning related to sexuality, as an alternate spelling for boy.[6]

Usage

In the LGBT community

The term boi may be used to denote a number of other sexual orientations and possibilities that are not mutually exclusive:[7]

  • A boyish lesbian.[8]
  • A submissive butch in the BDSM community.[9]
  • A young trans man, or a trans man who is in the earlier stages of transitioning.[9]
  • A younger bisexual or gay man who may have effeminate characteristics. The term can also be used by anyone who wishes to distinguish from heterosexual or heteronormative identities.[9]

Boi may also refer to someone assigned female at birth, who generally does not identify as, or only partially identifies as feminine, female, a girl, or a woman. Some bois are trans or intersex people.[10] They may be gay or queer.[11] Many trans bois are also genderqueer/nonbinary (in itself a trans/transgender group), or might identify as cis persons or trans men, and yet practice genderfuck in which they do not fit in either masculine or feminine binary gender presentation. Bois may prefer a range of pronouns, including "he", "she", or nonbinary and gender-neutral pronouns such as "they".[12]

Usage in Suffolk dialect

in the Suffolk dialect, the term boi is often used as a familiar term (similar to British mate) for male (and more rarely female) friends. It can be used for anyone, with a Suffolk son just as likely to call their father boi as a Suffolk father calling their son. In practice, the pronunciation is not an enunciated "boi" but more like "buh" or "bor."

One of the earliest usages of the term boi was with the rapper Big Boi.[13] In the early 2000s the term came into usage within skateboarding culture.[6] The term came into popular culture again with the song "Sk8er Boi" by Avril Lavigne.[14] The term came into meme culture with the Dat Boi meme: an animation of a frog on a unicycle usually accompanied by the caption "Here come dat boi. (O shit waddup!)"[15]

See also

References
  1. Meredith Maran; Angela Watrous (2005). 50 Ways to Support Lesbian & Gay Equality: The Complete Guide to Supporting Family, Friends, Neighbors — or Yourself . New World Library. ISBN 1-930722-50-8.
  2. Levy, Ariel (2006). Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-8428-3.
  3. Ilyasova, K. Alex (November 2006). "Dykes on Bikes and the Regulation of Vulgarity". International Journal of Motorcycle Studies.
  4. Epstein, Debbie; Richard Johnson (1998). "Schooling Sexualities". Buckingham: Open University Press. p. 19.
  5. Linden, Merritt (27 February 2008). "Radical to Raunch: Articulating and Anticipating Contemporary Lesbian Feminism — An Analysis of Levy's Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture". Utrecht University. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  6. "boi". Dictionary.com. Retrieved 2020-09-09.
  7. Curzan, Anne (2003). Gender Shifts in the History of English. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-82007-3.
  8. "Definition of 'boi'". Collins English Dictionary. Retrieved 22 April 2019. in British ... a lesbian who adopts a boyish appearance or manner
  9. Crain, Chris (November 22, 2007). "Who's The Fairest Twink Of Them All?". San Francisco Bay Times. Archived from the original on March 29, 2012. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
  10. Faderman, Lillian; Stuart Timmons (2006). Gay L.A.: A History of Sexual Outlaws, Power Politics, and Lipstick Lesbians. Basic Books. p. 355. ISBN 0-465-02288-X.
  11. "boi". www.dictionary.com. October 25, 2018. Retrieved November 10, 2022.
  12. "Boi or grrl? Pop culture redefining gender". NBC News. October 1, 2005. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  13. "Big Boi: Boy O Boi!". Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  14. "Lavigne's 'Sk8ter Boi' Is Big Screen Bound". Billboard. May 28, 2003. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  15. Lopez, German (2016-05-27). "Dat boi, explained". Vox. Retrieved 2020-09-09.
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