Single girlies, listen up — apparently, having a boyfriend is now embarrassing. Yes, you read that right. You might have already seen it all over TikTok this week, where the topic has gone viral. But where did this all actually come from?
@reganellisxWhen Vogue writes an article saying it’s now embarrassing to have a boyfriend♬ original sound – goddess.of.survival?
Well, it all kicked off with a British Vogue article by Chante Joseph,“Is Having A Boyfriend Embarrassing Now?”, which argues that having a boyfriend has become socially uncool or even embarrassing. Now, the internet has collectively decided that being someone’s girlfriend might actually be a bit… cringe.
@abbybaffoePeriod vogue ♬ original sound – toxic vibe
There’s a growing trend of women soft-launching their relationships with blurry arm photos and half faces, or hard-launching… but with their partner’s face cropped out. It’s like we’re trying to erase them, but not totally erase them.
To post your boyfriend constantly now feels almost regressive, like you’re publicly centering a man in your story when we’ve all decided to be the main characters of our own life.
@sofiabutnotreallythoGotta listen to the boss♬ Vogue (Edit) – Madonna
When the author of the original piece put out a call for comments, women flooded in with their reasons for going low key. Many admitted they were just… superstitious. One woman said she feared the “evil eye” — that showing off her happy relationship would spark jealousy strong enough to ruin it. Others were simply being practical.
“I was in a relationship for 12 years and never once posted him,” said one woman. “We broke up recently, and I don’t think I will ever post a man. Even though I’m a romantic, men will embarrass you even 12 years in, so claiming them feels so lame.”
Hard to argue with that, honestly.
Credit: Canva
“Boyfriends are out of style. They won’t come back in until they start acting right,” reads one viral comment with 10,000 likes. Even women in relationships will make fun of men online, half in solidarity with single women and half because being too into your boyfriend is now culturally icky.
Once upon a time, being single was a cautionary tale (cue the “you’ll die alone with cats” rhetoric). Now, it’s aspirational — another rejection of the tired, heterosexual fairytale that never really benefitted women in the first place.
@celsiusgay Having a boyfriend is embarrassing now. Thanks bitch vogue @British Vogue @Vogue #fyp #foryou #gay #vogue #boyfriend ♬ She’s So Gone – Naomi Scott
Maybe the point isn’t that having a boyfriend is embarrassing — it’s that performing your relationship online is.
We’ve all been conditioned to treat relationships like status symbols, proof that we’ve achieved something. But now, being mysterious, private, or even unavailable is the new flex.
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Featured image credit: HBO
