As the name gyaru-moji suggests (gyaru meaning "gal"), this writing system was created by and remains primarily employed by young women.
The origin of this style is unclear but it has been proposed that magazines targeted at teenage girls first made it popular, and the phenomenon started to gain wider attention in media around 2002.
[citation needed] Reported instances of girls using the writing in school work, OLs ("office ladies") adopting the style in the workplace, and gyaru-moji being used in karaoke subtitling, are examples of this.
The Japanese language consists of traditional characters of Chinese origin, kanji, and two native syllabic scripts called kana: hiragana and katakana.
Katakana is frequently replaced by similar-looking kanji, such as 世 for se (セ) or 干 for chi (チ), in a reversal of the process that turned man'yōgana into kana.
In addition to the basic obfuscation provided by character replacement, another technique used to disguise the content of the message is to use vocabulary and grammar that is uncharacteristic of standard usage.
However, this innovative writing system subverts cultural norms and breaks linguistic barriers, characterizing gyaru-moji with a rebellious nature.