Background

The Girl Explaining meme, also referred to as Girl Explaining to Guy or Bro Girl, features a photo of Argentine woman Denise "Dinu" Sanchez at a concert in 2018. In the image, she appears animatedly talking to her boyfriend with a blank expression, wrapping one arm around him while gesturing towards the camera. This reaction image gained popularity in early 2019 within Spanish-speaking meme communities, often used to create female-centric versions of the Bro Explaining meme.

How It Began

The meme first emerged online on February 4th, 2019, when Twitter user @LejosEnBerlin shared it in a now-deleted tweet. The tweet contained a Spanish caption suggesting that the girl was expressing her dissatisfaction with the boy, implying he was gay, and it garnered over 40 likes over three years. Denise Sanchez later clarified that the original photo, taken in 2018 at a club in Claromeco, Buenos Aires, featured a group of people, with her and her boyfriend becoming the focus after the image was cropped. Their expressions reflected the exhaustion they felt towards the end of the party.

Meme Evolution

After its initial posting, the meme quickly spread within Spanish-speaking circles. On the same day, user MemesNutricion posted a variation that humorously warned against trusting quick nutrition fixes like Herbalife, receiving over 1,100 likes and 300 retweets. The meme saw a resurgence in mid-August 2022, this time in English-speaking communities. One of the earliest examples featured a caption about astrology, shared by Twitter user @BaldPrivilege, which gained over 10,000 likes within 24 hours. It was subsequently shared on Reddit's /r/dankmemes, garnering over 16,000 upvotes and 190 comments in just nine hours.

Identity and Interview

On August 18th, 2022, Know Your Meme identified the woman in the meme as Denise "Denu" Sanchez. That same day, she agreed to an interview, providing additional insights and context about the origins of the meme that had previously remained unknown.