Have you wondered why lately there’s been a lot of content on this “hot rodent men” sensation?
The articles and social media posts are accompanied by pictures of two men who starred in the Challengers movie (Mike Faist, Josh O’Connor) and other young-ish actors who’ve made a name for themselves over the last twenty-four months — Jeremy Allen White of The Bear, Barry Keoghan of Saltburn (and Sabrina Carpenter’s boyfriend) and Matty Healy of the band, The 1975.
Pictures of them neatly packaged in a grid are everywhere.
“Rodent men” are apparently the latest desirable type of men. They are men who were not born with conventionally masculine-attributed features like a strong jaw, chiseled face and broad shoulders. They are men who have more slender, delicate (read: feminine) features, beady eyes and messy hair (ie. they look like rats). They’re perhaps what one might call Beta-males — antidotes to Alpha males, like Chris Hemsworth, Brad Pitt, Hugh Jackman.
They’re supposedly the ”antithesis of toxic masculinity” (as if being muscular and tall meant one possessed problematic male traits while not having them meant being a feminist) — they’re “the opposite of a finance bro,” says another writer.
Even Timothée Chalamet has been thrown into this bag of “Rodent Men” —personally, I don’t think he meets the criteria of “unusual features” — Chalamet is objectively blessed with extreme good-looks. I think he’s just been thrown in there because he’s not very tall (by Hollywood standards) and he’s not jacked up with muscles like Chris Hemsworth.
When all the articles laud these men as “not conventionally handsome but still ‘hot’” —what they mean is that these men still have sex appeal. But I’d argue that the world got erect for those two men in “Challengers” because they were both sexually involved (on screen) with the hottest woman on the planet (Zendeya). Suddenly, everyone wanted a piece of them. It’s the same with Barry Keoghan— see how his sexual status climbed after he started dating Sabrina Carpenter — someone who is clearly way more conventionally attractive than him?
“Rodent men” (ie. the average-looking white male) now have sex appeal thanks to their proximity to women who clearly meet the standards of what is considered beautiful as defined by our patriarchal society. Some lists even include Tom Holland, the latest Spider-man, and actual boyfriend to Zendeya — which makes me think that basically any man who is not six foot tall can qualify as “rodent man.”
The “rodent men” phenomenon has been dismissed as just another pop culture label — another trend that’ll be churned out come the end of (the northern hemisphere) summer. It’s even been called “the latest dating craze for Gen Z.”
It’s supposedly harmless, because “if it’s about celebrating differences and how you don’t have to be conventionally handsome to be appreciated as hot, then who are we to complain?”
But it’s not about celebrating differences when it’s the slimiest, most non-inclusive sort of “difference” there is. For all these people who are being afforded this label are white and straight and male.
This “expanding the standards of attractiveness for men” is not afforded to women. As Julia Fox noted in a comment on Instagram, there’s clearly a double standard of body image in the media and society — if only “women were afforded the same luxury.”
One user on Instagram described the term as another example of male privilege — “Dad bods, rodent men, and other ways we elevate mediocrity or plain old normalcy in men while still holding women to unrealistic standards and perpetuating female body dysmorphia.”
“Let’s call it what it really is. WHITE MEDIOCRITY,” said another user.
The “hot rodent men” phenomena is yet another example of the seemingly casual ways we afford men who colour outside the lines to be accepted, even celebrated — in this case, men who were born with outlier traits, but have managed to find a way to be desired, loved. It’s the latest form of ‘dad bod’ inequality.
Isn’t it insane how straight white men get away with literally anything? We love them — no matter what they do or how they look. We’ll always find a way to centre them.
Are women afforded such freedom? Not a chance. It’s unlikely we’ll see a “rodent women” craze any time soon. Women will always only be acceptable if they meet the strict criteria of beauty — skinny and conventionally pretty.
And what’s frightening is that the term is powerful too — once invented, we go back in history and sweep up all the men who would be included by the standards of this contemporary label — William Dafoe, Steve Buscemi, Dustin Hoffman — men who are “Not Brad Pitt”.
Imagine we had the same for women — female actors who are “Not Julia Roberts” or “Not Nicole Kidman”. No such thing, because Hollywood’s female actors are all conventionally beautiful like Julia and Nicole. And sadly, our society will probably continue to perpetuate these sexist double standards.
“Waiting for the hot froggy girls trend over here,” as one user commented. “When is “regular looking middle age moms” gonna be a trend?” questioned another. We’re waiting too.