For centuries, derogatory terms have been used to describe women. These terms have been hurtful, damaging and extremely mean. Recently, women on TikTok and YouTube have been getting called a “bop” for wearing certain clothes, hanging out with certain people and having certain attitudes. Tara Thompson, a YouTuber that goes by the name of Tara Yummy, has been called the name an endless amount of times. She has even addressed the name on multiple podcasts. From what is noticeable, Thompson is getting called this because she has a lot of guy friends and also hangs out with her ex-boyfriend. 

There are also a lot of girls and women with a small following count getting called this for wearing revealing clothes or even posting videos of themselves dancing. It seems as though whoever invented the term decided the already overused words were not enough, and there needed to be more. If you google the definition of the word, multiple definitions are described. The most common definition of bop is “a man or woman who posts their body on the internet.” However, I have not come across one man being called this term on social media or elsewhere.

 I have seen many men attributing their personal heartbreak to a woman being a bop. This term may just be another ploy for men to explain how they were not to be held accountable for their poor actions in a relationship, but rather everything was the woman’s fault. Women have also been calling other women this horrible name, which is just another way for women to compete with, hurt and manipulate other women. TikTok should ban some words from being used to describe people on their platform. If kids and teenagers on the app are seeing more harsh words being used, they are more likely to use them in schools and to bully other people. While you cannot always prevent bullying, there should be limits to the degree in which a person can engage negatively with another on a social media platform.

 Instagram has a restriction on comments that contain hate speech. TikTok should do the same. It is a deeply misogynistic idea that women doing anything or wearing something revealing can make them unworthy of respect and proper treatment. In my parents generation there were Playboy magazines filled with women revealing their bodies and yet many consumed and paid for that material. In an evolved world full of websites like OnlyFans, people are quick to shame the same people they pay bills for. It is immature and wrong for people to shame women for simply existing or contributing content to a platform. All social media sites should protect all people, but especially women, from hate speech.

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