TikTok comment sections are minefields of activity: avid users of the app are commenting laughing emojis, tagging their friends, asking where that creator’s fit is from, and also asking them where they got their…lobotomy.
One account in particular is attracting an abundance of these comments: @lex.delarosa, who’s “wholehearted homemaker + mama to two boys’” content regularly goes viral — and not always for the expected reasons. Creating ‘day in the life’ style content which sees her plan her “42 month old’s” party or homeschool her kids, something feels distinctly off. Her expression is permanently fixed in a state of Disney-like happiness, with her eyes nearly shut from how wide her smile is. Adding to things is her movement: she seems to float around whatever her task is, to the point of bent double over the countertop whilst icing a cake. Aided by quick cuts in the edit, nobody’s doing The Uncanny like her – and people are taking notice.
From starting dialogue around this sense of sinister nothingness, “@Nadia can’t wait to be this empty behind the eyes after my lobotomy,” to asking outright “can u tell me where u got ur lobotomy queen? (sic)”, Lex’s content seems to have resonated with people online, tapping into a new era of performed numbness. Aesthetics Wiki summarises lobotomy-core as focusing on “exploring femininity through meta-irony, detachment and nihilism,” referencing Rayne Fisher-Quann as the coiner of the idea for her deep dive into the Dissociative Pout. As those in the comment section allude to, those three signifiers are displayed clearly throughout Lex’s content. Or are they?
Whilst many seem to ‘get’ Lex’s joke, assuring others that it’s “obviously satire,” others aren’t convinced. For every lobotomy-leaning sentiment, there’s three more which question if she’s being serious, or express some form of bafflement to the whole thing. “Nothing has confused me the way this account does <3.” Fair. However, dig a little deeper and you’ll start to notice indicators that Lex knows what’s up – referencing the ‘Roman Empire’ in one of her TikToks suggests she’s in tune with nuanced online trends – and there was that time when she dressed up as The Other Mother from Coraline, which feels very on-the-nose.
There’s also the fact that she’s replied to someone looking to catch a “lobotomy deal” with the promise of a private message on where to find that. Huh. Whatever you think’s going on, it’s clear that this creator is harnessing the internet’s appetite for ironic acts of femininity whether she intends to or not. And good on her. Smooth brain supremacy is in.
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