A Guide to Children’s Culture for Out-of-Touch Adults: What Is a “Babot Girl”?
This week, we’ll explore several niche cultures within the broader youth culture. They run the gamut from the genuinely angsty enhancement community to the bizarre world of hardcore audiophiles and the nostalgic world of robot girls. What’s a robot girl? Glad you asked!
What is a “bebot girl”?
TikTok is being taken over by bebot girls. “Bebot” is Filipino slang from the 2010s, meaning “pretty girl” or “bad girl.” The “bebot girl” trend involves posting videos of themselves transforming from an ordinary woman into a bebot, a Filipino “bad girl” from the 1990s. This is typically achieved with makeup appropriate to the era: heavy bronzer, frosted inner corners, and bright metallic eyeshadow. It looks like this:
and this:
The trend started with a video posted by TikToker @bellepauleen , which revived the term. The anthem and soundtrack for these videos is the 2005 Black Eyed Peas song “Bebot.” Bebot girls seem to be part of the same nostalgic trend that gave us millennial optimism and 2016 nostalgia, but with a hefty dose of Filipino pride. If you want to watch bebot girl videos all day, check out the hashtag .
Who is Clavicular?
This week in our “People Your Kids Know But You Don’t” series, we’re featuring Clavicular. His real name is Braden Peters, he was born in 2005, and he’s the world’s most famous beauty enhancement specialist.
“Luxmaxing” (as you can read in my Gen Z/A slang dictionary ) is the act of maximizing one’s physical attractiveness through grooming, exercise, and stylish clothing. While it sounds good in theory, in practice, “luxmaxing” is nihilistic vanity. For a “luxmaxer,” there is only one standard of male attractiveness: essentially, a white guy with a long jaw. And nothing is more important than looks. Intelligence, coolness, interestingness, kindness, talent, etc. are irrelevant; the only valuable quality is looks. “Luxmaxers” are insanely obsessed with defining what makes a person attractive. They measure the angle of their eyes (canthal slope), obsess over their maxilla, and know the exact biacromial width (the span of their collarbone). The collarbone is 19.5 inches wide, hence the name.
Klavicular rose to fame thanks to his Kick channel, where he films himself judging other people’s appearance, flaunting his attractiveness, giving his followers advice on how to “upshine” (become more attractive), and going on dates. Predictably, he sells an online course. To achieve his looks, Klavicular says he’s been injecting himself with testosterone since age 14, regularly takes steroids, and smashed his cheekbones with a hammer to make them more prominent. Rumor has it he also uses methamphetamine to maintain his weight. Although he claims to be apolitical, his connections include right-wing influencers Nick Fuentes, Sneaco, Andrew Tate, and others. He regularly uses racist language.
This is all very bad, and it’s gaining popularity among boys of a generation with clouded minds. So, I think you should be careful: all is not well with young boys.
What is a Big John machine?
While niche communities like Looksmaxxers are depressing, many young people are drawn to far less macabre interest groups, such as audiophiles. Within this community, audio equipment is sometimes referred to as ” Big John machines” because people show off their incredibly expensive sound systems by playing Jeff Castellucci’s cover of Jimmy Dean’s 1961 hit “Big Bad John.”
It all started with a post on the audiophile subreddit Reddit , describing the original song as “an interesting example of how good audio systems can breathe more life into a recording.” After that, people started posting videos of extremely exotic and expensive systems playing the song . For example, this $2 million speaker system:
Then people started posting photos of their own systems playing the song. Or just mediocre equipment . Then people started posting photos of the cheapest equipment capable of playing “Big Bad John,” like this:
and this:
Viral Video of the Week: The Leaf Test
Recently, TikTokers Tony and Austin posted an 11-second video titled ” The Leaf Test .”
In this video, Toni says, “I found a leaf,” and Austin replies, “It’s beautiful, just like you.” She sighs. He panics, likely having said something wrong. It’s quite funny, but the video has become incredibly popular—over 18 million views—perhaps for the wrong reasons.
Even though it’s clearly a joke, the comments section of the video is full of anger, with people writing things like, “Dump this ungrateful idiot,” “He deserves someone better,” and “Can we just accept not testing our boyfriends if he gave the perfect and correct answer, and how can we still be upset?”
People started making response videos:
This has spread beyond TikTok. On Reddit, the leaf experiment has generated particular outrage .
I don’t know if it’s measurable, but the internet has significantly worsened people’s ability to recognize when someone is being ironic or sarcastic, whether it’s misinterpreted written messages on Threads or humorous videos on TikTok. The internet seems to have made people less likely to moderate their responses; they’ve become very quick to react.