rude gyal

The female counterpart to "rude boy": originally a young woman moving in the same 1960s Kingston rude-boy street scene, and later a confident, bold, fashionably-dressed dancehall woman who carries herself with attitude and refuses to be pushed around. The phrase is heavily used in dancehall culture as a term of affirmation and address ("big up all the rude gyal dem"), celebrating female autonomy, sexuality and style — closely related to the "bad gyal" archetype later carried into the global pop mainstream by artists like Rihanna. Used affectionately by partners and friends and assertively by women themselves; rarely pejorative. In UK MLE the spelling "rude gyal" is dominant; some Patois writers prefer "rude girl".