When you first download TikTok, you’re inundated with videos of straight girls dancing to pop songs, but once the algorithm has learned your tastes, if you’re anything like us, you end up on the queer side of the app. It’s here that you’ll come across new Gen Z slang like “Hey Mamas lesbian.”
So what is a “Hey Mamas lesbian?"
A “Hey Mamas lesbian — not to be confused with a “chapstick lesbian,” which describes someone who is masculine but doesn’t completely fit into the butch stereotype — wears traditionally masculine clothing and picks up women by saying, “Hey mama.”
In a TikTok where one Gen X lesbian is describing the new term to another, one explains, “It’s a masculine lesbian with an undercut, a top bun, wears a sports bra, and picks up girls by saying: ‘Hey mama.’”
“So, a ‘90s lesbian?” the other responds.
She’s not wrong. Add a plaid flannel and an Indigo Girls CD, and you’ve got a ‘90s lesbian.
But Gen Z was quick to jump into the comments to clarify, “Gen z lesbian here, a hey mamas lesbian isn’t the look it’s like the personality. She’s trendy, a bit douchy and not gonna call you in the morning lol,” someone wrote.
“Hey Mamas lesbians” tend to be closer to the butch end of the queer spectrum and describes TikTokers who make flirtatious videos where they are lip-syncing while sticking out their tongues or biting their lips.
There has also been some discourse about how these women have appropriated Black lesbian identity by using the term “stud,” but for the most part, the criticism these videos get is for being too “try hard.”
While the term seems to have originated as a way to describe a group of lesbian content creators on the app and point out how cringey they were for posting thirst traps, now most videos that pop up when you search for “Hey Mamas lesbian” are explainers and ones poking fun at the women who this new term describes.
It will be interesting to see if this newish term gains traction and joins the ranks of “U-haul lesbian” and “lipstick lesbian.”
