About

Tits or GTFO is an expression used on male-centric BBS and imageboard sites, typically in response to a seductive image posted by anonymous users who claim to be female. GTFO is an internet acronym for the phrase "Get the Fuck Out," which is also widely used in chat rooms, forums, 4chan, etc. Many have criticized the expression as sexist, arguing that the phrase objectifies women and creates a hostile environment for them online (similar to There are No Girls on the Internet).

Origin

While the exact origin of the meme is unknown, the earliest known usage of the phrase" Tits or GTFO" appeared on the 4chan ^[1] imageboard /b/ on December 11th, 2006. In a thread entitled Zooey-Chan?, in which an anonymous user claimed to be the woman in a picture, another user responded with numerous instances of the phrase "Tits or GTFO" (shown below).

Spread

Since its creation, "Tits or GTFO" has evolved and has now become usable in any situation, including those in which the speaker wishes to dismiss the people he or she is arguing with, or simply has grown tired of the conversation. For instance, someone may say, "And if you don't like it, Tits or GTFO." There are some places such as a couple of IRC channels and some chat rooms that use this phrase as a greeting.

IRC user #1 has joined the chat room.

IRC user #1: Hey guys!
IRC user #2: Tits or GTFO.

The popularity of the phrase led to its inclusion on the Rules of the Internet. On February 15th, 2007, an anonymous user included a variation of "Tits or GTFO" on a list of "Rules of the Internet" on 4chan.^[2] For rule 15, they wrote, "Rule 15: If a camwhore posts, tits must be shown. If this rule is broken, said camwhore must GTFO." Two years later, on February 9th, 2009, an anonymous Internet Archive^[3] user uploaded a second list, which included "TITS or GTFO – the choice is yours" at number 31 (shown below, right).

On May 14th, 2007, Urban Dictionary ^[4] user jiggsmaster3000 definted the expression as "an expression often used on imageboards. It is often heard when a girl posts in a thread." The post received more than 2,300 upvotes in less than 14 years (shown below).

The choice between "Tits" and "GTFO" was also expressed, frequently, through image macro memes. These memes would frequently offer representations of the choice by labeling one option "tits" and other "GTFO" (example below).

Criticism

The expression has been criticized widely as a way of silencing female voices online, regulating them to sexual objects for male internet users. On August 12th, 2013, Redditor^[5] potato1 posted a thread "Tits or GTFO is actually in line with gender equality [+70]." They included a picture of a woman holding a sign that reads, "I need feminism because I am sick of reading 'Tits or GTFO' as a response to y feminine username online. Redditor^[4] Waitwhatnow refuted the original poster's opinion that the expression is not sexist. They wrote:

The intent of "tits or gtfo" was to specifically target a woman's comments, and tell her that unless she provided photos of her boobs, she was not welcome in that space. That is in no way gender equal, given that men posting in the same space were never seriously requested to display their sexual characteristics to continue posting.

Perhaps the poster feels that this was somehow gender equal because… nope. Tried to think of some reasons and none of them hold water. The idea is that in "real life" people "like you or pretend to like you for being a girl," so we can fix that on the internet by being jerks to girls? Obviously whoever thought of this idea has never experienced "being a girl."

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References