Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girlboss

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Part of a series on Gatekeeping / Gatekeep. [View Related Entries]

About

Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girlboss is a parody of the phrase "Live, Laugh, Love" used in a variety of shitposts, that began on Tumblr in January 2021. The phrase is used to mock the stereotypical sentiments of the typical "empowered feminist," with each term holding a negative connotation in reference to female empowerment.

Origin

Gaslighting is when someone manipulates someone by psychological means into believing something false and questioning their own sanity. Gatekeeping is when you control and limit general access to something. A Girlboss is an empowered woman who takes charge of her own life, is self-made and independent.

On January 12th, 2021, Tumblr^[1] user missnumber1111 posted, "today’s agenda: gaslight gatekeep and most importantly girlboss," garnering over 43,500 notes in a month (shown below). On that day, Twitter^[2] user @CUPlDL0VE posted, "my agenda is gaslight gatekeep and #girlboss," the first instance of the phrase on Twitter.

On January 13th, Tumblr^[3] user a-m-e-t-h-y-s-t-r-o-s-e reblogged the post along with a photoshopped image of "Live, Laugh, Love" wall art instead reading, "Gaslight every moment, Gatekeep every day, Girlboss beyond words" (shown below). On January 18th, the image was reposted to Twitter^[4] for the first time.

Spread

Throughout January 2021, the phrase slowly spread on Twitter, reaching a peak in mid-February. For example, on January 19th, Twitter^[5] user @shyfew posted a video from television show Charmed of three women chanting "the power of three will set us free" over a book along with the phrase, garnering over 200 likes and 39,000 views in a month (shown below). On January 22nd, Twitter^[6] user @OCEANGIRL tweeted, "are u a live love laugh or a gaslight gatekeep girlboss" garnering over 1,000 likes and 140 retweets in under a month.

On January 24th, Twitter^[7] user @burntlovenotes made a shitpost image macro featuring the phrase over images of guitarist Frank Iero of My Chemical Romance, garnering over 300 likes in three weeks (shown below, left). On February 11th, Reddit user /u/ItsHipToTipTheScales posted a Homestuck themed "Gaslight Gatekeep Girlboss" Venn diagram to /r/homestuck,^[8] garnering over 120 upvotes in a week (shown below, right).

On February 12th, Twitter^[9] user @pianta_ tweeted, "gaslight gatekeep girlboss is the new live laugh love" garnering over 1,900 likes and 400 retweets in a week. As the trend evolved, Twitter^[13]^[14] users began posting images of characters under each phrase in Twitter posts, meant to personify each phrase (examples shown below).

Manipulate, Mansplain, Malewife

On February 15th, Tumblr^[10] user @relelvance posted, "Manipulate, mansplain, malewife" as a male-themed opposite to "gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss," garnering over 27,000 notes in four days. The post was screenshotted and reuploaded by Twitter^[11] user @nortoncampbell on the same day, garnering over 14,200 likes and 2,800 retweets in the same span of time (shown below).

On February 16th, Twitter^[12] user @bridgersfilm uploaded a post containing both phrases overtop of a screenshot of the main characters from the film Gone Girl, meant to depict the two phrases, garnering over 27,900 likes and 4,400 retweets in three days (shown below).