(CNN) – Traditionally, women considered “modest” behave in a modest, reserved and harmless manner, to the point of being barely visible.
Jools Lebron, a makeup artist and prolific TikTok user, has proclaimed herself the new authority of modesty on the app. But her version of the term is much broader than the traditional definition: being modest for Lebron extends to the makeup she wears, how she styles her wig, and how fast it gets up and is placed in the aisle when a plane lands.
“See how I put on makeup for work? Very modest. Very conscious.” say in a TikTok“The way I go to the interview is the way I go to work. A lot of you go to the interview looking like Marge Simpson and you go to work looking like Patty and Selma. That’s not ‘demure.’”
“Consider why you hired them,” he continues. “Here’s your reality check, diva.”
But by using “demure” to describe his trivial everyday habits (and often directly contradicting his own advice), Lebron, who is also a trans womanis mocking gender norms and traits associated with femininity.
In the aforementioned TikTok, she confesses that she would never go to work with bright green eye makeup, because the look is “not modest.” In another video, she reveals that she arrived at her first day of work at Texas Roadhouse with that same makeup look.
“In all the videos I am referring to myself,” she says in another video explaining the joke after users criticized her for “judging” the way people go to work. “That’s the joke!”
The satire is clearer in a video in which he claims he will behave “demure” and “mindful” on an outing on the Las Vegas Strip. His sober assurances that he will be back in bed by 10 p.m. are interspersed with scenes of Lebron from later that night, laughing in a club and having a hard time finding his hotel room.
Other ways to be modest, according to Lebron: eating a packet of StarKist tuna as a midnight snack. Give him a compliment someone for their new haircut even if it's not your style. Tie a handkerchief around the front lace portion of your wig when you have Taco Bell refried beans stuck in it so as not to offend the CVS pharmacy employees after a big night of partying.
She has inspired many women to record themselves behaving modestly according to Lebron's definition: try on makeup at Sephora without making a mess, eating a Chipotle bowl one half at a time, use a bookmark actually reading instead of a receipt or other object lying around.
An even account used the format to praise Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign as “very demure, very mindful” compared to the campaign of former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio Republican Sen. J.D. Vance. (The Lincoln Project also made its own video “demure” mocking Vance and his appearance).
Lebron jokingly promises in his videos that he is becoming delicate and modest. But in a new video This week, she is ditching acting and says her frequent refrain of being “mindful” also means considering one’s goals and pursuing them with confidence.
“One thing you have to learn about being demure, about being modest… being modest is being conscious, and being conscious includes yourself,” she says. “Chase those dreams. Be responsible. Be conscious, be modest and don’t ever let any b***h take your shine away.”
