What does “septum arms” mean?
“Septum arms” is a nonsense phrase that became insult. The phrase “septum arms” was created by TikTok’s AI “blue text” search function at the top of a video shaming people who criticize women’s bodies. While it doesn’t mean anything, TikTok’s quickly changing lingo made people speculate that it’s an insult for women with fat arms. Some people think that “septum arms” refers to arms that are larger above the elbow than below, the triangle of skin that expands at the tricep when you rest your arm against your body, or just arms that are “ugly.”
The term is used similarly to “butter face.” A woman who is a “butter face” has an attractive body, but her face (butter face) is unattractive. With septum arms, someone is attractive, ‘cept them arms. “Did you go on a date with that girl last night?”“Yeah, but she was such a butter face. No wonder her profile didn’t have any good selfies.”
“Vuvuzela arms” is a similar TikTok nonsense term. TikToker @superkeara posted a video with a random word, vuvuzela, and a random body part, arms, to joke about the micro insecurities people pick up online. However, once she posted the joke, the body shaming/ED/body-positive community on TikTok treated it as if it were a real insult. The term refers to arms that are thinner at the wrist than they are further up the forearm. The joke is that this is the shape of almost any person’s arm. @superkeara has since posted videos expressing her surprise and worry at how quickly people turned her joke into a real insult.
Septum Arms Origins
The term originates from an anti-body-shaming video. In the original video (which has since been removed) TikTok user @orlandospeciality plays two characters; one mouths the phrase “Omg ew, bro look at her arms,” and the other looks at the first character in disgust and shakes his head “No.” The video was captioned “This world is full of sick people.” The video, which has been parodied and remade several times, uses the audio “Falling Down (Bonus Track)” by Lil Peep.
TikTok’s AI highlighted “septum” and “arms” because of a comment. TikTok user @daryldixonisaw commented “What if it’s someone with a septum?” which quickly gained over 27,000 likes. TikTok’s algorithm highlights terms users may want to search and choose “septum arms” for this video. @orlandospeciality has openly shown his distaste for septum piercings and made other videos with “Septum” in the title, so the algorithm was primed to think “septum” was a term that users would be interested in.
Parody videos exploded on the app shortly after the original. On July 17th, 2024, TikToker @kirkiimad parodied @orlandospeciality’s video, using the text “Omg eww bro look at her septum arms????.” On the same day, user @nuumuhuupi posted a video asking what the term meant, cementing the meme and starting the trend of trying to decipher the phrase. Unlike the original video, the parodies all include the actual phrase, septum arms.
Septum Arms and Body Positivity
Body positivity TikTokers claimed the phrase soon after its creation. Within the body positivity movement, there has been a push to reclaim terms, like fat, so that people have the ability to describe their bodies accurately without the social stigma of treating fact like insult. In the case of septum arms, the movement more claimed the term than “reclaimed” it. TikTokers like @steyrmiu have been criticizing this reclamation, saying that terms like “septum arms,” “hip dips,” and “legging legs” are terms created and popularized by the very women who are victimized by them.
Now, videos embracing septum arms are gaining popularity. Women like TikTok @themeganrhiann have been making videos embracing the ways their arms look, showing off the ways their triceps fold onto their torsos, and celebrating their lumps, bumps, fat, and flab—all normal parts of our wonderful human bodies.
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