About

The 5 Men to Avoid Challenge is a phrasal template based on a viral tweet by Evie Fordham about common stereotypes of modern men. In addition to many people contributing their own lists, some parodied the format with "5 Women to Avoid."

Origin

On April 21st, 2020, Fox Business reporter Evie Fordham tweeted,^[1] "All right y’all, my challenge is: 5 types of MEN TO AVOID men who like jazz -men who like their roommates -men who think the Weeknd is deep – men with podcasts -men who DON’T CARE ABOUT <a href/memes/social-distancing>SOCIAL DISTANCING." The tweet received more than 1,000 likes and 60 retweets in less than two days (shown below).

Spread

Following the post, some people began making their own lists of "men to avoid." That day, Twitter^[2] user @amber_athey tweeted, "5 types of MEN TO AVOID challenge: – male feminists – men who have never shot a gun – men who are too close to their mom – men who don’t workout – men who wear hats with suits." The tweet received more than 2,500 likes and 275 retweets in less than two days (shown below, left). Twitter^[3] user @heckyessica wrote, "5 types of men to avoid: -men in skinny jeans -men who prefer gaming to sports (e-sports isn't a thing) -men who don't hold doors for you -men who are dependent on their parents -men who don't feel an urge to protect you." The tweet received more than 1,500 likes and 105 retweets in less than 24 hours (shown below, center).

Others parodied the tweet, such as Twitter^[4] @jordylancaster tweeted the lyrics to the Rick Astey song "Never Gonna Give You Up". The tweet received more than 2,600 likes and 250 retweets in less than 24 hours (shown below, right)

In response to the tweet, some began posting their own lists of "5 Women to Avoid." Many of these lists included variations of "women who contribute to these lists" in addition to another host of stereotypes about women (examples below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

Not available.

External References