About

Men Invented X So They Could Y refers to a phrasal template and series of memes that imagine men inventing various sports solely for the purpose of engaging in activities with other men, which, under traditional gender roles, would make them appear unmanly, such as holding hands or going on a walk. Spawned by a viral TikTok, the format was popularized on TikTok and Twitter in mid-October 2021.

Origin

On October 15th, 2021, TkToker^[1] habitchuela made a video of herself supporting her cheek with her hand captioned, "thinking abt how men invented golf bc they're too scared to ask each other to go on walks." The video received over 2.2 million views and 384,600 likes in three weeks (shown below).

Spread

On October 16th, 2021, Twitter^[2] user @peachprc made the earliest derivative post based on the joke, writing, "men invented arm wrestling so that they could hold hands and have eye contact." The tweet gained over 36,800 retweets and 282,200 likes in three weeks (shown below, left). Also on the same day, TikToker^[3] yagirlfavoritepoet made a video based on the joke that received over 2 million views and 550,000 likes in one three weeks (shown below).

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7019818304114052357

The phrasal template saw minor spread in mid-October 2021. For example, on October 20th, Twitter^[4] user @bocxtop made a tweet that gained over 450 retweets and 9,600 likes in three weeks (shown below, left). The format saw a surge in popularity in early November 2021 after a November 3rd tweet by Twitter^[5] user @venmosnake, who posted a joke referencing the trend, gained over 14,700 retweets and 93,200 likes in one week (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References