The rise of the #WomenInMaleFields TikTok trend
Women are realizing men treating them like emotional slaves and putting minimum effort into a six-year relationship isn’t normal.
The #WomenInMaleFields trend first gained traction in November 2024. Women took to making satirical reels about the frustrations they faced when dating men, sharing toxic behaviours they were subject to and switching around the wording to demonstrate what it would have been like if women behaved the same way—all posted to the soundtrack of Nicki Minaj’s “Anaconda.”
One of the most viral posts in this trend, accumulating over seven million views, featured the following text, “He was crying in bed, so I said, ‘here we go again’ and turned around and fell asleep.” Another popular post read, “I went on a date with a guy, he told me he’s bi and asked if I’m accepting of that. I said, ‘Yeah, as long as I can watch.’”
The trend first started as a form of catharsis for women, allowing them to share commonly experienced manipulative behaviour demonstrated by men in modern dating. It has since morphed into a discussion about broader gender issues like the persistent belittling of women in male-dominated workplaces and the undermining of their capabilities.
Men have, quite predictably, responded with incredible defensiveness and anger to these posts calling them out for their trashy behaviour. Instead of taking the chance to examine the underlying reasons this trend grew so quickly in popularity and perhaps reflecting on their past wrongdoings, they are doing the opposite.
As a result, there has been push-back, which manifested itself in the creation of a counter-trend titled “#MenInFemaleFields,” which features content such as, “Caught me cheating so I cried and blamed my zodiac sign.” This attempt to overtake a platform that forces men to be held accountable is typical and allows them to deflect and shift the blame. Fortunately, these videos have not been circulated on everyone’s FYP, so it doesn’t seem as effective as initially hoped.
Social media often sees new trends that shoot up and die down in about two weeks, but #WomenInMaleFields does not seem to be dying down any time soon. This is because the trend sparked a very real conversation about how even now, in the twenty-first century, women are still looked down upon and seen as lesser than. They are not treated with the respect and humanity that they deserve in this twisted hellscape of modern dating.
In the era of dating apps, ghosting, and situationships, women are being forced to take on all this emotional labour in their relationships, tolerate emotional immaturity from their partners, and undergo hurtful experiences at the hands of their male partners. It’s a tale as old as time: women being told that they are crazy, overreacting, and too emotional. They are accused of having standards that are sky-high and are pushed to “compromise,” which is just code for letting your male significant other walk all over you and not speaking a word about it.
By opening up this conversation, women are realizing these experiences that were seemingly “normal” are actually quite unacceptable. Therefore, this trend highlights the dreadfully low effort men put into dating nowadays and provides women all across the globe with an opportunity to share and feel validated about their experiences, assuring them that they are not alone.
