Meme of the Week: Tumblr’s War Against Cleavage
An Instagram photo set of a girl reminding other female bloggers to cover themselves circulated on the network and received numerous re-blog shout-outs—but also led to a slew of parody responses alleging it was body policing.
Courtesy of Know Your Meme (4)
Hey girls... did you know that boobs go inside the shirt, and not out?
The social media witch hunt against cleavage reached a breaking point on Tumblr this week, when an Instagram photo set of a girl wittily reminding other female bloggers to cover themselves began circulating on the microblogging network. The sarcastic jab against online promiscuity instantly resonated throughout the community with reblog shoutouts, but it also led to a slew of parody responses from others dismissing the girl's plea as a self-righteous attempt at body policing, or derailing from the complex subject of social media vanity altogether (see gallery for example). Of course, Tumblr is not the only platform that’s struggling to deal with an epidemic of user-submitted cleavage shots. Earlier in March, YouTube updated its video recommendation algorithm to desist the flood of "reply girls," a type of female YouTubers who solicit curious clicks with suggestive thumbnails, after weeks of protest from the community.
Meme of the Week is brought to you by Cheezburger.
Courtesy of Know Your Meme
The floor is lava and was so prepubescent. Right away, things took a turn for the silly as girls everywhere started finding alternative, arguably better, uses for their boobs than just shirt-prisoners.
Courtesy of Know Your Meme
Guys' boobs need love, too, you know. Unfortunately for them, they don't come as equipped with as much inherent fun. Sorry, guys. Better luck next meme.
Courtesy of Know Your Meme
The guys continue to contribute, retaking femininity into their own hands. Perhaps the most informative version of this meme, this well-groomed gentleman helps out those of us who really need to know more about, uh, what's going on in there.
Courtesy of Know Your Meme
An up-and-coming meme's chance to survive tends to go up when it gets remixed with an already-established meme. Throwing All Your Base into the mix boosts the credibility of this Tumblr-based initiative right alongside the rest of the best on the Internet. Girls, instead of taking off your shirts, why not take off every zig?
Courtesy of Know Your Meme
Pop culture remixing means even more visibility, and thus viability. Rife with nostalgia, this classic reference to That ’70s Show adds a nice touch of mainstream appeal to the same old thing that we all saw earlier this week.
Courtesy of Know Your Meme
Since the four-panel, text-laden format is unique in its own right, some have taken to critiquing this meme's style over its content. I CAN'T EVEN READ WHAT YOU'RE SAYING, GURL.
Courtesy of Know Your Meme
There's always a home for the esoteric on the internet—complete with dog—for cute-animal aficionados.
Courtesy of Know Your Meme
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