The himstrel show, also called himstrelsy, is a form of misogynistic entertainment popularized in the early 21st century by sexists like the
American actor who became an online sensation in
2022-23 by posting a series of videos on
TikTok called "Days of Girlhood."
Himstrel shows consist of men dressing and dolling themselves up in womanface to make themselves look like carictures of the opposite sex and then acting out the most insulting, degrading and dehumanizing sexist stereotypes about women and
girls imaginable in video footage, photographs, on stage and in real life.
Himstrel shows performed by men who do womanface
stereotype humans who are female as dim-witted, ditzy, foolish, shallow, superficial, klutzy, childlike, extremely vain, preening, squealing, giggling, vapid, unserious, irresponsible, spendthrift, overly-emotional, irrational and histrionic.
Himstrel show performers also body-shame women and
girls by making fun of, and/or experssing disgust about, female bodily processes such as menstruation - and by making light of what human pregnancy, childbirth and motherhood entail and require of women.
One prominent himstrel show actor calls the body part from which female
people menstruate and give birth a "Barbie pocket" and "Barbie pouch," and the organs from which women feed and immunize babies "gal pals." This actor also goes around in public in womanface offering tampons to
random female strangers.
