You’re in cafeteria innocently eating your lunch when you notice a group of five men gathered together on a single table, engaging in a conversation inaudible to you. Suddenly, you are drawn to the man in the middle. Sporting an undercut, his strong perfume dominates your senses, and when he shakes in laughter, you can hear the jingle of car keys clipped to one of his belt holes.
You’ve seen his type before, felt the same aura and witnessed similar fashion tastes. With the stereotypes inside your head, you started thinking that right before your eyes is the infamous fuccboi – single man, sporting a distinct fashion sense, characterized by manipulative promiscuity and refusal to be emotionally committed.
This largely Western trend is slowly creeping into Asian culture, and Ateneo de Davao’s youth scene is starting to see them too. But what is a fuccboi, what does their sudden rise mean, and should we be worried?
Defining the fuccboi
The term fuccboi gained its popularity when it was first used by rapper Cam’ron in his 2002 song ‘Boy, Boy’ to describe a man that ‘doesn’t amount to what he claims to be’, or put in simpler terms, ‘weak’. From there, it has evolved from being a man to man insult into what would eventually become the masculine equivalent of ‘slut’; different in gender usage, but still an equally degrading word used to label a sexually aggressive person.
The Urban Dictionary – perhaps the most reliable source online when it comes to millennial terminologies – defines a ‘fuccboi’, with strong words, as ‘a manipulating person who does whatever it takes to benefit him, regardless of who he screws over.’
Definitions vary from culture to culture (with the extremes found in foreign countries) and here in Ateneo de Davao, students have formed their own perception towards the ‘fuccboi’.
“Fuccbois? They are social climbers. [They are] vain,” says Uly Agura, a first year Mass Communication student. “On its rise, I believe its becoming a trend.”
A trend of its own
The ‘fuccboi’ has become exactly like a fashion trend that has formed its own unique style, and no matter where you come from in the world, the prototype ‘fuccboi’ form of dress is similar – almost universal – and the stereotype is this:
Majority of self-proclaimed ‘fuccbois’ sport the distinct undercut hairstyle, often times tying the longer strands into a ponytail or a bun at the top of their heads.
A ‘fuccboi’ may wear anything, but they are all linked by a singular trait: they smell good, and they most probably have a car. One won’t have a hard time finding out if they truly have their own vehicle, just simply look at their belt loops. Chances are, their car keys are shining and thoroughly exposed to the public for everyone to know.
But then again, if you come across someone fitting the descriptions mentioned above, there’s no guarantee that they are without a doubt a player. These are stereotypes established by observers, and ‘fuccbois’ themselves.
For some reason, most of them prefer to dress this way, and with the continuing rise of their numbers, more people are influenced (or pressured) to wear similar outfits, ‘fuccboi’ or not.
Spreading like wildfire
Even if one may not be a millennial, it’s difficult to distance oneself from the onslaught of terms spouted regularly by the younger generations, especially if one is exposed to social media.
A simple scroll through your news feed and you might most likely encounter a rant about a fuccboi, and if you’ve been updated with the scandal-heavy Facebook page of AdDU Confessions, you’ll understand what the craze is all about, and why Ateneans are under the spotlight.
However, to dub AdDU Confessions as a valid source of information is unfair: outsiders from the school are allowed to share their experiences, and the anonymous quality of the messages do not guarantee that they are indeed factual. Nonetheless, the alarming number of posts about women being victims of fuccbois is worrying.
Photo by Christian Dale Espartero
Chickboy university
With audacious posts involving fuccbois, flooding a confession page bearing the school’s name, it doesn’t come as a surprise that outsiders have started to form a connection between the two: that the Ateneo de Davao University is an institution with a striving population of ‘chickboys’. This constructed belief, also fueled by how people judge based on physical appearance, only adds itself to the ever-growing list of assumptions people have towards AdDU students. Unfortunately, the negatives included in that list heavily overpowers the positive qualities an Atenean naturally possesses.
But people will always believe what they personally see. In this case, they’ve sadly found truth in the various posts they have read online, and in the rumors that continue to spread – and when people know things, they begin to form their own opinions. In the comments that come after a fuccboi confession is published, one can easily feel the dislike some have learned to associate with the Atenean ‘fuccbois’.
It’s not just ‘a fuccboi’ anymore, and this is something only we can change.
‘Bad boy’
The alarm towards the ongoing rise in numbers of the fuccboi is less on the sexual acts involved itself, and more on the way men are becoming careless when it comes to handling their peers. It shows the instability to form lasting and meaningful relationships with others and further promotes the Filipino’s tendency to be ‘ningas cogon’: to thoroughly enjoy new things at the beginning, only to give up everything that has already been established simply because the initial rush and excitement has dissipated.
Both in fashion and in morals, it’s hard to disregard the strong presence of the ‘fuccboi’, but it’s not the kind of strength in numbers this university (or anywhere else for that matter) necessarily needs.
End of the trend?
To date, there is no upside to the whole ‘fuccboi’ craze, other than the fact that women now have the ability to name the evils in their lives, and labeling, if done out of ill-will, often result to nothing good.
“This trend, I fear, will turn into a ‘style’ and will be carried out to the next generation,” Agura even adds.
What sets the whole fuccboi agenda from other styles or trends out there, however, is that it’s not actually physical. The label of a fuccboi isn’t about having; it’s about being. This makes it far more difficult to get rid of. It’s inculcated into the personality of a person, something that cannot be changed overnight. Conversely, others should also learn not to put labels on a person solely based on what he or she wears, as this further worsens the situation than solving it.
If the craze continues to grow, however, it will just go to show that insensitivity to other people’s emotions is the way to go. Hopefully, introspection can help eradicate or at least minimize the rabbit-like population of the ‘paasa’.
Also, it will hopefully introduce more diverse topics in AdDU Confessions aside from the usual rant of the heartbroken girl, yet another victim of the skilled fuccboi.