As time goes on, we are learning new terms, new slang, and new acronyms. However, the latest viral term skulking around online is "UK beasts".
The term is typically used in a derogatory manner, and typically aimed at British women. It apparently stems from the notion that women from the UK are considerably less classy than those from other countries.
Urban Dictionary defines the phrase "UK beasts" as women who are 'masculine', rude, entitled or "speak like road men".
According to the BBC, one of the earliest records of the term emerged from a viral 2022 video, in which a man offering lollipops out to women on a French street said:
"Look how attractive and feminine French women are compared to beasts in the UK,"
Increasingly, the intent behind the cruel title has transformed, now more often than not being aimed towards confident Black women.
Although we have seen this term thrown around beneath our comment sections in order to insult the women who took part in Badderz UK, or to shame other black female women in the public eye, what brought the moniker to the attention of mainstream media was how often it was used to describe Nella Rose amidst her I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! appearance.
There is a history of Black people being compared to wild animals, which dates back to the atrocity that was the slave trade.
One term we are particularly aware of is "monkey".
There have been an abundance of cases where Black athletes have had to persevere with their craft amidst a flurry of hecklers imitating monkey noises in order to belittle and ridicule them.
We've seen this happen on numerous occasions towards Serena Williams, as well as Arsenal and England player, Bukayo Saka.
So how is comparing Black women to beasts any different?
What is most shocking about this trend is many of the users of the term are in fact Black men. And this is very unfortunate, as it causes one to wonder, these very Black women they have dubbed "UK beasts" could be their mothers, their aunties or their sisters.
It seems that a small minority of Black men have grown comfortable with publicly bashing Black women online.
An example of this is Young Spray, who has consistently made it known that he finds Nella Rose, Mimi the Music Blogger and other black women above a UK size 10, to be unattractive and undesirable.
How can we break the cycle?
Hopefully now this matter has been shared on larger platform, and the treatment of black women in media is being looked at more closely, people can step away from their keyboards long enough to consider the harm they may be causing or the negative perceptions of Black women they are redistributing.
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