I had never heard BEM before a few days ago reading a Piers Anthony novel. (I'm a big Sci-fi nerd and somehow didn't get around to reading him til recently). While I don't know if this is the same usage, in the book BEM was used (by a regular old 20th century American girl) to mean Bug Eyed Monster.
The details of the usage involve interdimensional travel and different evolutionary paths, but that's not needed here!
