What are e-girls?
Following definitions apply for all genders correspondingly.
So. What are e-girls?
The term e-girl has seen a steep increase in usage since 2019. It is currently unknown who coined the term and which platform it originated from. You will find the term mostly on social media, platforms like Twitch and Discord.
General definition of e-girl
Generally speaking, “e-girl” (electronic girl) is an online term used to describe a young woman who uses the internet actively, usually trying to get attention on social media. She often presents herself as a stereotypical anime or gaming fan with conspicuous makeup and colorful hair; alternatively [colorful] goth or emo-like visuals, including chains, [leather] necklaces, and chokers. Her looks are also inspired by the aesthetics of hip-hop, 1990’s fashion, or the skater culture.
An e-girl’s personality can range from cute, shy or very emotional to seductive, quirky, or edgy. When presenting themselves on social media, the excessive use of filters, in particular cat/dog faces, soft focus, hearts, glittery/star filters, and cute stickers, is very characteristic.
E-girl is also a term that has been associated with a negative meaning. Not rarely it is used as an insult to popular/attractive women on streaming sites or social media, such as Twitch, TikTok, or Discord. From a more radical perspective, it is also been equated with the terms “THOT” (That H♥e Over There) or “internet sl♥t”.
Specific types
E-girl is more of an umbrella term and there is an astounding amount of different types of e-girls. It is used to assemble a variety of specific types of girls that fit into a specific trend or stereotyped “type of girl”. An e-girl tries to fulfill the expectations of a specific type to target a certain audience. In the collapsed texts below you can find each definition. If you are missing one, let us know!
Gamer Girl
A gamer girl is the counterpart to your typical male gamer or nerd. Unlike normal girls, she’d spend her time doing nerdy things at home, such as playing video games or binging series or movies. While a gamer girl can be just a nerdy person who doesn’t necessarily have to look or act very girly, the male species has certain expectations of her appearance such as big nerdy glasses, short clothes, knee socks and a perfect face, which is why every nerd treats a gamer girl like a goddess whenever he encounters her in the mythical online gaming world. An e-girl likes to make use of this misconception and tries to fulfill this role as best as possible in order to get more attention. As a result of this behaviour, this false image of a gamer girl keeps spreading.
-aboo
Nowadays the suffix “-aboo” usually describes a foreign person who develops an extreme obsession with another country and its culture while – in extreme cases – denouncing their own culture. The obsession only involves the positive aspects of a country and things the person personally likes. The most known term is probably “weeaboo” which will be explained in the next paragraph.
A person can also be obsessed with more than just one culture: for instance, an e-girl can claim to be both a “weeaboo” and “koreaboo”. In a case like this, egirl-reviews.com would like to make use of neologism and introduce the term “multiboo”.
Weeaboo
Definition
Based on the previous “-aboo” paragraph, the term “weeaboo” describes a foreign person who develops an extreme obsession with Japan and its culture while – in extreme cases – denouncing their own culture. The obsession only involves the positive aspects of Japan and things the weeaboo personally likes. A weeaboo is stereotypically associated with anime, manga, J-Pop, figurines and body pillows, and often uses Japanese words picked up in anime, like “kawaii” or “sugoi”.
An e-girl that presents herself as a weeaboo or anime girl usually tries to appear very cute, lovable, and younger than she might actually be. Characteristic features are a high pitched voice, cosplay, an anime/manga character as profile picture, pigtails, or an ahegao face.
History & detailed definition
The term “wapanese” (white japanese) originated on the imageboard website “4chan”. It has been used in a negative context to describe a, mostly male, person who retains an unhealthy obsession with Japan and Japanese culture, especially for animes, mangas, Japanese video games and J-pop, typically ignoring or even rejecting their own racial and cultural identity. He attempts to act as if he was Japanese. The persistent use of words that are often heard in animes, such as “kawaii”, “desu”, “waifu”, “chan” and “sugoi”, is very typical. It is also very common for a wapanese to have a huge collection of animes, mangas, posters, figurines and especially a body pillow of his favourite waifu (engl.: wife). While a wapanese loves and supports Japanese culture, counter intuitively, he tends to stereotype Japanese culture by how it appears in his favorite animes, which can be safely assumed to be offensive to the Japanese.
Because the use of the term wapanese caused conflicts between users not only on 4chan but also other platforms, 4chan decided to automatically replace the word wapanese with the word “weeaboo” (short: “weeb”), which at that time was a meaningless expression used in the comic „The Perry Bible Fellowship“ by Nicholas Gurewitch. In the comic, this made up word symbolised something unwanted or rejected, that would result in a punishment.
With Japanese food, such as sushi and ramen, becoming more popular in the Western world, it was only a matter of time, until the interest in other Japanese cultural aspects was growing. Starting in the 1990s, anime has been increasingly accepted in the West. What used to be something to be mocked, despised and made fun of, now even became part of Western mainstream media, especially on streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon. As a result of this, a non-japanese person can like the culture, watch anime, or speak the language, without having to be branded as a “weeaboo”.
Waifu-Levels
Since many male weeaboos desire a like-minded female counterpart (waifu), an e-girl takes advantage of this demand on the market by trying to become an anime or UwU girl. Egirl-reviews.com has defined four different levels of waifus.
- The basic level is a girl who likes and [casually] watches anime (respectively manga) and can have conversations about them. This does not necessarily mean that she watches anime exclusively.
- The trademark of the second level waifu is a high pitched voice, which should imitate Japanese voice actresses in anime. She prefers anime over regular series.
- The third level includes the adaptation of stereotypical anime character traits and roleplay, such as a tsundere or a little sister (imouto). She only watches anime.
- This is the ultimate waifu level. She dresses up like a specific anime character to evolve into the complete waifu package. This is also called cosplaying, you can read more about this here.
Ahegao
A term closely related to this topic is “ahegao”, which is the Japanese equivalent of the O-face. It became a trend amongst weeaboo e-girls to mimic this facial expression in order to get even closer to a 2D-waifu.
Ahegao (アヘ顔) is a term in Japanese pornography for an exaggerated facial expression of characters (usually females) during sex, typically with rolling or crossed eyes, protruding tongue, and reddened face. The style is often used in erotic manga, anime (hentai), and video games (erogē). [efn_note]Definition “Ahegao”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahegao[/efn_note]
UwU
Another expression that should be mentioned is “UwU”. Unlike “LOL”, UwU is not an abbreviation but, just like LOL, it can be used verbally. UwU is based on Japanese emoticons, called “kaomoji” (顔文字, engl.: emoticon). “Kao” (顔) translates into “face” and “moji” (文字) into “character”. Japanese emoticons can be way more complex, creative and expressive because of the use of characters from both the Western and the Japanese writing system. In Japanese culture eyes are believed to be the mirror to the soul, which is the reason why eyes play a more significant role in Japanese emoticons. Further examples for UwU are ( ᴜ ω ᴜ ) or (ꈍ ω ꈍ). They represent a happy [anime] face with closed eyes and a laughing [cat] mouth. UwU is especially used to express an overwhelming feeling of happiness. It can also express an emotion someone feels when seeing or experiencing something extremely cute, also known as “cuteness-overload”.
Koreaboo
Definition
The term “koreaboo” describes a foreign person who develops an extreme obsession with South Korea and its culture while – in extreme cases – denouncing their own culture. The obsession only involves the positive aspects of Korea and things the koreaboo personally likes. While a weeaboo is stereotypically associated with anime, a koreaboo is usually associated with Korean pop music (K-Pop) or Korean Dramas (K-Drama). A koreaboo also tends to use Korean words picked up in songs or dramas, such as “oppa” or “saranghaeyo”. Just like in the case of a weeaboo, simply liking Korean music, learning the language or being interested in Korean culture does not make one a koreaboo.
An e-girl may try to present herself as a koreaboo, just to appear more interesting, be part of a trending group, or try to gain attention of a specific target group. In case an e-girl appears to be a real koreaboo, you may want to consider staying away from her, since she may like to involve you in a personal (Korean) drama:
As both an anime & kpop fan, koreaboos [are worse than weeaboos] for sure. Weebs are just openly passionate about their love for 2D girls, but if you search “Korean boyfriend” on youtube then you’ll find A LOT of corrupted western girls. They date the guys solely to brag and feed their inner kpop/kdrama fangirl.[efn_note]Reddit post by /user/CatNameFoodStar, https://www.reddit.com/r/teenagers/comments/ap3lyh/wich_one_is_worse_koreaboo_vs_weeaboo/eg5hxjp/[/efn_note]
Chinaboo
Definition
The term “chinaboo” describes a foreign person who develops an extreme obsession with [mainland] China and its culture while – in extreme cases – denouncing their own culture. Chinaboos are usually associated with Chinese Dramas (C-Drama) and Chinese pop music (C-Pop), including Mandopop and Cantopop. Sometimes a koreaboo likes/ “stans” a member of a K-Pop group that happens to be from China. Then it’s possible that a koreaboo [also] becomes a chinaboo. Simply liking Chinese music, learning the language or being interested in Chinese culture does not make one a chinaboo.
It may be hard to find an e-girl that loves China and presents herself as a chinaboo, but since China is the country with the biggest population in the world and Chinese people or people of Chinese origin are over the world, e.g. Chinese-Americans, it offers to be a big target group for e-girls. As a result, it will probably not be too unlikely to find a chinaboo e-girl sooner or later. But be careful: if you happen to be either a “tuhao” (Chinese term for wealthy people, also referring to “nouveau riche” Chinese, engl: new rich) or a “fuerdai” (referring to the second rich generation, so children of the tuhao), then an e-girl may just want to try to dig for some gold.
Reasons for the lack of chinaboos
Chinese music, series, and movies may be as good or perhaps even better than Korean or Japanese ones, but they may be harder to access or people won’t give them a chance because of prejudices. Not only is China one of the largest economy with the highest population in the world, but its culture is also one of the oldest – and yet chinaboos are by far the smallest group compared to weeaboos and koreaboos. There could be different reasons for that:
- China doesn’t have a “niche” like Japan (anime) or Korea (K-Pop) or doesn’t export its own culture as much as Japan or Korea.
- Strict internet rules and censorship in mainland China hinder intercultural exchange. It’s harder to find “hidden gems”, like the Hong Kong movie industry, that could act on their own and became internationally popular with stars like Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee.
- People may think they already know everything about China or have a wrong, bad, or even racist conception of China, such as “China copies everything”, “China is just like a dictatorship that exploits their people”, or “Chinese people eat dogs”.
- The Chinese language may not sound as appealing to Westerners as for instance Japanese or Korean.
TikTok
With TikTok’s explosive rise in popularity in 2019, a new type of e-girl has entered the arena. The TikTok e-girl is usually a teenager that tries to be edgy and, as the name already suggests, spends her time on posting videos on TikTok, trying to become TikTok-famous. When it comes to appearance, there are two crucial elements that are needed for “the Tik and the Tok”: cute and alluring.
When it comes to makeup, the typical TikTok e-girl uses bold, colorful eyeshadow, a lot of eyeliner (especially winged eyeliner or cat eye), and for the glow some extra highlights. She often uses a lot of blush on her cheeks, sometimes even on the tip of her nose, to give the face an extra cute note; fake freckles are also quite common. Occasionally, she draws something cute under her eye, like a little heart, a star, a butterfly, or even just an X. This is basically the TikTok equivalent of a prisoner’s teardrop tattoo – this again shows how this type of e-girl tries to be edgy. She can have conspicuous hair, such as green or pink. To simplify it, just imagine a rainbow colored goth or emo girl.
Generally speaking, her clothes can range from a cute girly outfit, to a doll or lolita-like dress, up to something shorter and more revealing. A cute outfit usually involves long [striped] sleeves, vans, a beanie, cute accessories like chains or hair clips, a [classic skater] skirt, and a pair of [striped] tights. Alternatively, a TikTok e-girl might wear some skin tight [crop] tops and leggings, not rarely showing a revealing cleavage – again, just to get one’s attention. Keep in mind: a TikTok e-girl is often still a teenager!
A TikTok e-girl doesn’t necessarily have to be a weeaboo or like anime, but since anime characters can be really colorful, cute, and likeable, she might use certain characters as an inspiration for her appearance or behaviour; so It wouldn’t be too far-fetched to say that a TikTok girl likes to watch anime as well.
There are two further sub-types of TikTok e-girls that have a slight but rather specific visual and “aesthetic” differentiation: the VSCO girl and the soft girl.
VSCO Girl
A VSCO girl can be defined as the girl you used to find on tumblr. She is named after the the social media app. It is known for providing photo editing and a social media experience that is not based on likes and comments, also offering a space for hobby photography. At some point, the VSCO girl started sharing her VSCO app creations on other social media platforms, like TikTok or Instagram, using the hashtags #vscogirl, #vsco, or vscocam. With these hashtags she tries to represent a certain lifestyle trend among young girls, comparable to a 90s-surfer-girl lifestyle, just with a stronger awareness of environment and climate protection.
When it comes to makeup, a VSCO girl prefers a fresh and dewy aesthetic over traditional makeup, like eyeliner, mascara, a foundation, and lipstick, by using hydrating creams and facial sprays or neutral lip balms. She prefers spending more money on skincare and less on makeup; sometimes she might claim to not wear any makeup at all. Her nails are usually pastel colored. This girl likes to wear oversized t-shirts or sweatshirts combined with shorts. When it comes to footwear she prefers Vans, Crocs, Birkenstocks, and other beach related clothes.
Another essential component is the metal water bottles (also known as hydroflasks), sometimes even a reusable metal straw (#savetheturtles). Of course there are specific accessories: puka shell chains, multiple scrunchies for her wrist, and a Fjällräven backpack. Stereotypical phrases used by a VSCO girl are any variation of “sksksk” (laughing; similar to to “hahaha”) and “And I oop” (when a person is clumsy, a happy accident or something embarrassing happens; always connected to something positive, funny, and entertaining).
Earliest mention of the VSCO girls comes from 2019 as more websites and articles started publicizing about this specific type of girl. In 2019 FOX wrote an article about the total costs associated to become a VSCO girl. The number roughly boils down to 230 USD. Here’s a list of the most essential items that one would require to become a VSCO girl:
- Hydro flask
- Oversized shirt or sweater
- Scrunchies
- A shell necklace
Even though VSCO girls are named the app, nowadays they’re mostly known for the traits mentioned above.
Soft Girl
Being a soft girl is rather a fashion trend rather than a [VSCO girl’s] lifestyle trend. This aesthetic, accessories and clothing trend in an echo of the the 1980s and 1990s; especially following the aesthetic of grunge. The most significant traits of a soft girl are her very cute visuals and her soft inside: she wants to appear lovable and enchanting. She is sensitive, emotional, and loving, but not necessarily sensible, weak, or tearful.
Regarding clothing and accessories, a soft girl identifies herself through pastel colors such as pink, peach, mint, baby blue, lavender, or also white. These colors can be either used in her makeup or clothes, but not necessarily in both at the at the same time. Her colors can be combined with darker shades or black, again, following the 90s grunge aesthetic. The Powepuff Girls and Hello Kitty are often the inspiration for her often cloud-like appearance.
A soft girl typically wears oversized shirts and pullovers with the intention to appear smaller and cuter. But she can also just wear a tank or crop top, a checked or tennis skirt, mom jeans, overalls, white colorful socks or stockings, and black school shoes or white sneakers / [chunky] trainers. When it comes to makeup, a soft girl uses pink or peach blush; white, pink, or peach highlighter and rouge, and lip gloss. She also likes to paint hearts or clouds under her cheek. Her accessoires consist of colorful hair clips, barrettes and scrunchies, bandanas, headbands, and cute necklaces with clouds, angels, hearts, or fruits. Just like a VSCO girl, a soft girl can have a Fjällräven Kånken backpack, just in a pastel color.
Her favourite plushies are Hello Kitty, teddy bears, sheep and alpacas – everything of course pastel colored. Her emoji repertoire includes a cloud, any type of heart, peach, strawberry, cherry, cherry blossom, bunny, or a dove of peace.
Cosplayer
Definition
Cosplay (Japanese: コスプレ, kosupure) is the practice of dressing up as a fictional character as true to the original as possible, including the impersonation of the role. The term was coined in Japan and spread to the USA and Europe with the start of the anime and manga boom in the 1990s. Nowadays characters can be chosen from any possible media, such as anime, manga, video games, regular [Western] series, movies, comics, and even books.
Etymology
Cosplay is a linguistic blend of words (portmanteau word) and is composed of the english terms “costume” (コス, kosu) and “play” (プレ, pure). America always had a huge comic and science fiction culture. Fan costuming on respective conventions became a very popular trend. It is said that the term cosplay was coined by Nobuyuki Takahashi, the founder of the Japanese publishing house Studio Hard, after visiting such a convention in Los Angeles in the 1980s. The first time he mentioned his portmanteau was in an article for the magazine My Anime, in which he talked about this American fan practice. Since Japan had a huge fan and costuming culture as well, this term quickly caught on. A person who does cosplay is called “cosplayer”.
Difference between a cosplay and a normal costume
There are two main differences between cosplaying and regular dressing up, like a person would do on halloween or a theme party:
- The first difference can be found in the word “cosplay” itself: [theater] play. Enacting a character’s role is an important part it. This can for example be seen on stages at conventions, often accompanied by music, such as respective theme songs. In a sense, “play” can also refer to role-playing.
- Traditional costumes, for example a police officer, a nurse, or a firefighter, are usually mass products that can be bought everywhere. Unlike cosplays, they are not necessarily very detailed. It is very common for a cosplayer to invest a lot of time and money in making a cosplay from scratch, trying to make it a unique piece, true to the original. When there’s a convention or other big event, a cosplay can be planned months or even a year ahead.
Commercialization
Cosplayers usually meet up at conventions. Ultimately, it is always about having fun together, sharing a hobby, presenting their hard work, and bringing their favourite fictional character to life. But like many hobbies, cosplaying can also be turned into a career. Social media platforms like YouTube and Instagram offer a free place for cosplayers to advertise for themselves. Good marketing can lead to sponsorships.
Gaming companies that own the rights for a certain character could book a professional cosplayer to promote a new game. Or just like in the fashion industry, a designer or textile manufacturer could offer a deal. Another more independent, accessible and common possibility is merchandising. A cosplayers could commercialize her costumes or herself by sell pictures as digital download, calendars, or printed on other products such as shirts or cups. Another way of commercialization involves paid membership sites such as OnlyFans or patreon. Fans can obtain exclusive content with a monthly subscription. Sometimes this even includes NSFW content.
A cosplaying e-girl may use this hobby as reason to stand out. It may be used as a justification to show skin, since this can easily grow men’s attraction on the internet. Since cosplay can be literally anything, her costumes can be cute, sexy, cool, or sheer impressive, if a lot of work was put into the cosplay – the more variety, the bigger the target group. Either way, it’s a good way to gain attention and an even better bonus if commercialized.
Asian e-girl
As the name already suggests, this type of e-girl is ethnically Asian [or half Asian]. She can present herself as any mentioned type of e-girl. With the rise in popularity of Asian cultures in the Western world, Asian and especially Asian-American e-girls found a niche on the internet. On Twitch, many streamers of Korean origin in particular seem to have become very popular. On Western platforms people might want to watch them for a change or out of curiosity.
This has nothing to do with racism. There are different people with different tastes and likings. It is not always just about the appearance. Personal experiences of growing up between two cultures add an additional, deeper, and more interesting layer to a girl. For instance, a girl of Japanese origin living in America who does not only play games and like anime, but also grew up with Japanese parents and speaks Japanese fluently, may appear more authentic. If an Asian girl even fulfills some stereotypes, she may be even more attractive to certain people. Other girls may be from Korea and try to learn English which can be quite entertaining.
Just remember: some e-girls may just want to make use of their ethnicity to gain attention from a specific target group.
Frequently asked questions
What are e-girls?
Generally speaking, “e-girl” (electronic girl) is an online term used to describe a young woman who uses the internet actively, usually trying to get attention on social media. She often presents herself as a stereotypical anime or gaming fan with conspicuous makeup and colorful hair; alternatively [colorful] goth or emo-like visuals, including chains, [leather] necklaces, and chokers. Her looks are also inspired by the aesthetics of hip-hop, 1990’s fashion, or the skater culture. Read the full definitions of what e-girls are here.
What is a Gamer e-girl?
A gamer girl is the counterpart to your typical male gamer or nerd. Unlike normal girls, she’d spend her time doing nerdy things at home, such as playing video games or binging series or movies. While a gamer girl can be just a nerdy person who doesn’t necessarily have to look or act very girly, the male species has certain expectations of her appearance such as big nerdy glasses, short clothes, knee socks and a perfect face. Read the definition of a gamer girl.
What is a weaboo e-girl?
Since many male weeaboos desire a like-minded female counterpart (waifu), an e-girl takes advantage of this demand on the market by trying to become an anime or UwU girl. There are four different levels of waifus. The basic level is a girl who just likes anime (respectively manga) and can have conversations about them.
The trademark of the second level waifu is a high pitched voice, which should imitate Japanese voice actresses in anime. The third level includes the adaptation of stereotypical anime character traits and roleplay, such as a tsundere or a little sister (imouto). The ultimate waifu dresses up like a specific anime character to evolve into the complete waifu package. This is also called cosplaying. Read more about Weaaboo’s and e-girls
What is a weaboo?
The term “wapanese” (white japanese) originated on the imageboard website “4chan”. It has been used in a negative context to describe a, mostly male, person who retains an unhealthy obsession with Japan and Japanese culture, especially for animes, mangas, Japanese video games and J-pop, typically ignoring or even rejecting their own racial and cultural identity. He attempts to act as if he was Japanese. Read more about Weaaboos and e-girls.
What is a Koreaboo?
The term “koreaboo” describes a foreign person who develops an extreme obsession with South Korea and its culture while denouncing their own culture. A koreaboo is usually associated with Korean pop music (K-Pop) or Korean Dramas (K-Drama). a koreaboo e-girl fills this need by providing a desired adaptation of one’s expectation of this culture. They will behave like the women seen in K-pop, Korean Drama’s etc. Read more about Koreaaboos.
What is a Chinaboo?
The term “chinaboo” describes a foreign person who develops an extreme obsession with [mainland] China and its culture while – in extreme cases – denouncing their own culture. Chinaboos are usually associated with Chinese pop music (C-Pop) or Chinese Dramas (C-Drama). Sometimes a koreaboo likes/ “stans” a member of a K-Pop group that happens to be from China. Then it’s possible that a koreaboo [also] becomes a chinaboo. Simply liking Chinese music, learning the language or being interested in Chinese culture does not make one a chinaboo. Read more about Chinaboos and e-girls.
What is an Asian e-girl?
An Asian e-girl can present herself as any mentioned type of e-girl. She just has to be ethnically Asian or half Asian. Because of the rise in popularity of Asian cultures in the West, Asian and especially Asian-American e-girls found a niche on the internet. Especially streamers on Twitch of Korean origin seem to have become very popular. Read more about Asian e-girls here.
What is a TikTok e-girl?
With TikTok’s explosive rise in popularity in 2019, a new type of e-girl has entered the arena. The TikTok e-girl is usually a teenager that tries to be edgy and, as the name already suggests, spends her time on posting videos on TikTok, trying to become TikTok-famous. When it comes to appearance, there are two crucial elements that are needed for “the Tik and the Tok”: cute and alluring. Read more about TikTok e-girls here.
What is a VSCO Girl?
A VSCO girl can be defined as the girl you used to find on tumblr. The name VSCO orginated from the VSCO social media app. A VSCO girl likes to wear oversized t-shirts or sweatshirts combined with shorts. When it comes to footwear she prefers Vans, Crocs and other beach related clothes. Another essential component is the metal water bottles (Also known as hydroflasks). Earliest mention of the VSCO girls comes from 2019 as more websites and articles started publicising about this specific type of girl. Read more about VSGO Girls
What is a soft girl?
Being a soft girl is more like a fashion trend rather than a [VSCO girl’s] lifestyle trend. This aesthetic, accessories and clothing trend in an echo of the the 1980s and 1990s; especially following the aesthetic of grunge. The most significant traits of a soft girl are her very cute visuals and her soft inside: she wants to appear lovable and enchanting. She is sensitive, emotional, and loving, but not necessarily sensible, weak, or tearful. Read more about VSGO GIrls
What is a cosplayer?
Cosplay (Japanese: コスプレ, kosupure) is the practice of dressing up as a fictional character as true to the original as possible, including the impersonation of the role. The term was coined in Japan and spread to the USA and Europe with the start of the anime and manga boom in the 1990s. Nowadays characters can be chosen from any possible media, such as anime, manga, video games, regular [Western] series, movies, comics, and even books. Read more about Cosplayers here.
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