Memes, Boob Jobs, and Dodgy Dms: “Bimbo Fairy” Empowers Herself and Others
Scrolling or tapping through Instagram, you are bound to find some statement that will make you LOL in an expression of relatability. Bury yourself a little deeper and you will find yourself in an organised chaos of pictorial and textual memes that amplify the struggles of the female experience. Whether that is being too hot for this world, or crying over not getting enough attention, Raven Raquell’s account, known as @bimbofairy, is not only hilarious but a coping mechanism. “This is exactly what I am going for. Organised chaos is me,” Raven tells me in conversation about how she has used Instagram to help her through her own mental health struggles.
Bimbo Fairy started from a place of heartbreak and hurt: following a divorce from husband, who Raven also described as her housemate and best friend, Raven was obsessively sending memes to her contacts. “That is really what the voice of that page has become, just working through all of those things with that person,” she tells me.
Though the account started as a casual form of sharing with her friends it grew organically, and as a follower myself, I think its success comes from the unapologetic genuineness and relatability of its character. The page is all about Raven, her feelings, and simply memes she enjoys. “I don’t post because I think people will like it, it's just, if it applies to me in any way, then I am posting it so I have kept that going this entire time and I am always going to” she explains. Clearly, this method seems to be working as Bimbo Fairy celebrated 100 thousand followers recently, and is currently growing between 500 to 1,000 followers daily.
Urban Dictionary defines a bimbo as an “attractive but empty-headed young woman, especially one perceived as a willing sex object,” and I personally find that Bimbo Fairy’s memes reclaim those experiences and perceptions of the female figure through humour directed at the self. The memes emanate confidence and a refusal to feel like shit when guilt is indirectly poured onto you. Instead of spiraling out of control following a divorce, for example, you post a meme and have a giggle about it. Though you may only feel better temporarily from that brief distraction, that is a therapy shared by thousands of followers.
She admits to me that heartbreak made her feel really crap about herself and her appearance, so she ended up getting a boob job “just to make [herself] feel better.” Using surgery as a coping mechanism elicited judgment, but Bimbo Fairy allows Raven to defend herself against unnecessary social feedback from her personal social circle. For Raven, the Instagram account allows her to respond to the argument of people saying judging her. “I am not ashamed of what I have been through and how I am trying to better myself,” she says. I can’t help but find something very not stereotypically bimbo-ish in this sense of self-acknowledgment and the accomplishment that comes with knowing your self-worth.
Iconically, ironic photos of Britney Spears, Lindsey Lohan and Paris Hilton are now printed on t-shirts and hoodies in the form of Bimbo Fairy merch, and, through talking about her supporters of the page, Raven states that it was her mom’s idea to monetize the account. While having the support of her friends and mom is there, Raven recognises that the account is not just for the benefit of her own mental health because she has a lot of people looking forward to her posts, and it makes their days better.
Even though Instagram has become a business and often Instagram accounts can feel dehumanising to both their viewers and owners,“I do know that [posting] does help and feeling like someone can relate to you is real.” She says that she gets a lot of her support in her DMs and makes a lot of connections with other people who have had similar experiences, describing it as “cool to see my page grow and make those connections that I never would have made otherwise”.
However, having such a large following means a whole lot of people trying to reach out to you, even in Raven’s personal DMs. She states that the abundance of messages is quite anxiety-inducing, though it is always rewarding to be reassured that your memes and your humour are actually helping and empowering people. I couldn’t resist asking if she gets any strange DMs, to which Raven responded “all the time!” without a second of hesitation. She says “a lot of gross guys will say anything to anyone” which I think could be a meme in itself.
Examples include “the classic ones where some guy is like ‘I will give you $5 thousand a week if you just talk to me’—you know those guys that message you those things. The other day I got a message from some guy who told me he wanted me to peg him, that is all he said.” I cringe at the audacity of these eager men—and women—who just want some attention. Luckily, Raven sees the funny side to these DMs, calling the characters behind their screens persistent.
Thinking about the consistent growth of Bimbo Fairy, I ask what is next for Raven. She is continually saving memes to her camera roll and we joke that she’s spending money on storage for her phone. During this process of finding memes, she notes “when you’re in a situation and you’re looking for relevant content, it almost seems like it is just brought to you.” Raven calls this operation a “harvesting” of content.
Amongst her many side hustles, Raven is also working on creating her own branded hair extension business, which will be separate from Bimbo Fairy but potentially marketed through that account. Though she calls the operations separate, I believe they are intertwined by one theme–being a bad bitch.
Raven continues her personal story by telling me that her husband is back in her life. “What I went through last year was one of the hardest things I ever went through and I just want to know that I made something good come out of it,” she says. “[I thought] maybe I could help someone else in that situation. That was the most important thing for me.”
As Instagram users continue to follow and LOL at Bimbo Fairy, Raven seems to be accomplishing exactly what she desires: creating a team of bimbos who are all celebrating and uplifting each other.
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This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Keep-up with @bimbofairy here.