Her Campus, March 2026
Spend a few minutes on TikTok and you’ll quickly stumble upon a familiar pattern. In response to a female influencer’s couple content, the comment section seems to be in on the same joke: “Blink twice if you’re okay.” “Babe, is he bothering you?” “Couldn’t be me, but stay safe out there.” Though playful, these remarks are telling. A growing corner of the Internet seems to agree that having a boyfriend, or flaunting one, is going out of style.
This shift away from traditional heteronormative relationship dynamics exploded into mainstream conversation after Vogue published the viral article, “Is Having a Boyfriend Embarrassing Now?” in October 2025. Written by Chanté Joseph, the piece explores how young women publicly display their relationships with men. Joseph interpreted a decline of boyfriend-centric online content as evidence that male partners are no longer viewed as social achievements or the centerpieces of women’s lives. As she put it, “The days of a man being a prize have changed.”
