About

Cock Confidence vs. Cock Shame is a social media trend comparing photographs of two men, one holding their hands clasped over their groin and the other leaving their groin open. Similar to the Green Line Test, the trend has been a subject of parodies, first beginning in mid-2021. Within the trend, green crosses or Xs and arrows are often edited in for visual assistance.

Origin

On July 26th, 2021, pickup influencer Rivelino, creator of the Green Line Test, made a Twitter^[1] thread in which he posted pairs of photographs of famous men, one clasping his hands over his groin and the other leaving his groin open, referring to them as "cock shame" and "cock confidence." The first post in the thread, comparing actors Tom Cruise and Leonardo DiCaprio, gained over 790 retweets and 7,900 likes, with another post^[2] comparing Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler gaining over 1,000 retweets and 4,700 likes in one year (shown below, left and right).

Spread

In the following days, other users on Twitter made tweets applying the test to various people and various characters. For example, on July 29th, 2022, Twitter^[3] user @3Dv2D made a Cock Shame vs. Cock Confidence post about Neon Genesis Evangelion characters Asuka Langley and Shinji Ikari that received over 30 retweets and 230 likes in one year (shown below, left). On August 9th, parody account @VandreCEntura made a tweet^[4] about Portuguese politician André Ventura that received over 170 retweets and 1,600 likes in one year (shown below, right).

In the following years, a number of tweets utilizing the comparison format were posted. For example, on July 4th, 2022, Twitter^[5] user @zwei_blumen posted a tweet with four comparison photographs of South American politicians that gained over 600 retweets and 5,600 likes in eight months (one image shown below, left). On May 23rd, 2022, Twitter^[6] user @yercorse made a tweet featuring association football managers that received over 300 retweets and 4,100 likes in three months (shown below, right).

Related Memes

Green Line Test

Green Line Test or Don't Lean In is a Twitter trend originating from parodies of a thread on the platform which argues that men leaning toward women in pictures betrays the man's neediness and weak mindset. Many criticized the tweet as having a flimsy argument, while others posted parodies using pictures showing "weak" leaning by drawing green lines over images of various people, often celebrities. In April 2022, the Green Line Test spread to TikTok where people applied it to images of themselves or friends.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References