One of the earliest usages of the term boi was with the rapper Big Boi. Usage in popular culture and meme culture In practice, the pronunciation is not an enunicated "boi" but more like "buh" or "bor." It can be used for anyone, with a Suffolk son just as likely to call their father boi as a Suffolk father calling their son. In the Suffolk dialect, the term boi is often used as a familiar term (similar to British mate) for male (and more rarely female) friends. Bois may prefer a range of pronouns, including "he", "she", or nonbinary and gender-neutral pronouns such as "they". Many trans bois are also genderqueer/nonbinary (in itself a trans/transgender group), or might identify as cis persons or trans men, and yet practice genderfuck in which they do not fit in either masculine or feminine binary gender presentation. Some bois identify as one or more of these, but they almost always identify as lesbians, dykes, or queer.
īoi may also refer to someone assigned female at birth, who generally does not identify as, or only partially identifies as feminine, female, a girl, or a woman. The term can also be used by anyone who wishes to distinguish from heterosexual or heteronormative identities.