The phrase began as a 2021 Twitter and TikTok joke that twisted corporate feminist slogans into an ironic trio of verbs, and 'gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss' quickly became a caption, a hashtag and a punchline across the platform. Short voice clips of the line circulated as meme sounds, since the rhythm of the three words made it endlessly quotable. It endures because the joke still lands: it mocks hustle-culture empowerment while giving creators a deadpan way to claim a win.