While on family holidays recently, my tween nephew raised the topic of “rawdogging”, a TikTok phenomenon I’d never heard of.
A quick Google dive later, and I was floored. The sheer stupidity of this trend is mind boggling, even to the most sympathetic social media apologists.
If the term itself makes your stomach churn, there’s good reason. Historically, “rawdogging” stood as a slang term used to refer to sexual intercourse without a condom. It has since been adopted to describe almost any activity achieved without the support of a buffer.
Most commonly across social media, “rawdogging” is a way in which people (often young men) sit in silence during long-haul flights with no digital distractions, no food, no water and, arguably, no chromosomes.
“Just rawdogged it, 15 hr flight to Melbourne. No movie, no music, just flightmap (I counted to one million twice),” Australian music producer Torren Foot, posted on TikTok last month. The insanely boring post has since received more than 11 million views.
Even celebrities are getting on board. In an Instagram story posted earlier this month, US actor Ryan Phillippe, posted a selfie from an outdoor concert venue. “Raw doggin’ this concert: solo, no alcohol, no drugs, no concessions,” he said.
But while considering how mind-blowingly ridiculous this whole trend is, it also got me thinking about the ways it so clearly reflects the dynamics of men and women across the world, and why women would never be afforded the luxury of “rawdogging” a flight.
Women would never waste the opportunity of a 15-hour solo flight
I challenge you to find me a woman anywhere, who, given the opportunity of a 15-hour flight solo, wouldn’t capitalise on movies, work, sleep, reading, or study. The idea of sitting motionless, staring at a flightpath would be utterly inconceivable. “Alone time” for women is generally so rare, it’s always used wisely.
Sitting still without combusting from the pressure of the mental load would be impossible
Seriously, even the mere thought of sitting idle without taking out a phone, a notepad, etc is giving me the heebie jeebies. That’s because at any given time, women have 4009 things jammed into our brains, competing with each other for attention. This ranges anywhere from keeping tabs on family doctor appointments, electricity bills, grocery top-ups, car servicing, to the big presentation we have coming up for work. 15 hours without actioning anything in this mental minefield… no thanks.
We wouldn’t risk the possibility of awkward chat from the person sitting next to us
Look, flights are notoriously hit or miss. If you’re lucky, you sit down next to someone lovely, who’s friendly but quickly registers your desire for conversation or quiet. Other times you’ll sit down next to someone who has no ability to read these signals, and instead spends their time trying to engage you on the current state of US politics and why Trump is actually a stand-up guy. I for one, don’t want to get caught in this trap. But, for “rawdoggers” there are no buffers from this. There are no airpods, no kindles, no pretend naps. You’re stuck. With the Trump guy. Just think about that.
Are men just running out of things to brag about?
Men aren’t graduating university at higher rates than women anymore. They’re losing momentum in sport. They’re losing spots in leadership. Could they just be losing things to brag about?
I’ll leave that with you to contemplate…