PRETTY Boys

This Oscar season has redefined the himbo

- Rebecca Ford

AMATEUR ETYMOLOGISTS—OR professional ones who’ve run out of fancier words to dig into—may be interested to learn that the noun himbo entered the English language 36 years ago, thanks to Rita Kempley of The Washington Post. “Their chest measurements rival Dolly Parton’s,” she wrote. “Their brains would embarrass a squid. They…do nude scenes and are wildly popular with both girls and boys. They come in two varieties—greased and armed to the teeth or moussed and undressed-todie-for.” The former category included Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, the latter Richard Gere, Tom Selleck, and—remember, this was the ’80s—Gary Hart. In the years since, himbos have thrived and proliferated. That’s partly because, while the word bimbo is universally understood to be pejorative, men can generally find a way to take anything as a compliment.

In fairness, later waves of himbos have more going on for them than their forebears did, including endearing qualities that transformed them, despite their flaws, into one of the more likable male archetypes out there. Think about how dear to our hearts the following non-deep thinkers are: the lovable smoothy Joey from Friends, the molten stripper known as Magic Mike, even Thor from the Marvel movies with his biceps and hammer. There’s so little stigma attached to playing a dim or dimadjacent male character that some of our most resourceful actors have recently done variations on the theme, and there are now himbos in the Oscar race.