About

A State-Mandated Girlfriend or Government-Issued Girlfriend is a satirical concept popularized in online incel communities, referring to a girlfriend issued by the government to lonely and involuntarily celibate men to reduce loneliness and depression among men. While the concept is largely satirical, it has been criticized as misogynistic for treating women as objects or tools to cure male loneliness and inceldom.

Some of the earliest existing public posts about state-mandated girlfriends appear on 4chan in late 2016. Memes about state-mandated girlfriends spread online and became increasingly popularized between 2018 and throughout the 2020s. In September 2026, a Wojak meme showing an incel getting his state-mandated girlfriend notably inspired edits and discourse about the concept, causing it to trend on social media.

Origin

The satirical concept of a state-mandated girlfriend purportedly originated in online incel communities during the mid-2010s. The concept typically involves the government assigning lonely, involuntarily celibate men a girlfriend to lower their loneliness and depression.^[1]

While the exact origins are unknown, one of the earliest known posts using the term "state-mandated girlfriend" was posted to 4chan's^[2] /pol/ (political) board on December 9th, 2016. The post was made in response to an anon writing, "Can I post Nazi anime girls?" and reads, in part, "Go ahead. 90% of Hitlerposting revolves around 'm-muh qt Aryan waifu' anyway. As if Hitler would give you a state-mandated girlfriend and not send you to a concentration camp for being weak degenerates."

Spread

In mid-2018, Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson inspired controversy for sharing the idea that "enforced monogamy" could help with a perceived loneliness epidemic in men.^[3] Some people interpreted this as echoing and supporting the idea of the state-mandated girlfriend.

Peterson later clarified his stance and denied that he supported state-mandated girlfriends, instead claiming he was talking in support of things like disapproval of adultery and moral norms that reward partnership.^[4]

On December 1st, 2018, Redditor Shai-e posted a Political Compass meme to the /r/traaaaaaannnnnnnnnns^[5] subreddit that includes the term "state-mandated gf," gaining over 470 upvotes in eight years.

On December 1st, 2020, Redditor Chainsawninja posted another state-mandated girlfriend meme to the /r/idealgf^[6] subreddit, garnering over 1,100 upvotes in six years.

On June 11th, 2024, a post with the titled "State mandated gf" was posted to the /r//JoblessReincarnation^[7] subreddit that gained over 2,800 upvotes in two years.

On September 9th, 2026, an anonymous user of 4chan's^[17] /pol/ board posted a Wojak meme that depicts a lonely man being assigned his state-mandated girlfriend, writing, "This will become reality as soon as incels withdraw their labor. The entire self-improvement industry was created for this reason. To keep incels in the workforce with lies. Once incels wake up and no longer participate, they will be forced to provide them with a girlfriend.

On September 10th, 2026, X^[8] / Twitter user @Toniavreliusvt reposted the Wojak meme, garnering over 20,000 likes and 1,400 reposts in five days.

The meme inspired discourse about the idea of the state-mandated girlfriend over the following days.

For example, that day, X^[9] user @NotOkN1 posted, "Sure it's a funny idea but I really can't imagine a more nightmarish scenario than the US government selecting a girlfriend for you," garnering over 45,000 likes in five days.

On September 10th, X^[10] user @paradoxhers posted, "notice how he's not with his looksmatch? incels are just men who feel entitled to beautiful women," garnering over 13,000 likes in five days.

On September 11th, 2026, X^[11] user @leahdoesstuff2 posted, "If u talk about unironically wanting this ur at BEST rapist adjacent," garnering over 50,000 likes in four days.

On September 12th, Redditor hysteriafem made a post to the /r/trueuglywomen^[12] subreddit that gained over 700 upvotes in three days, sharing the meme and claiming that the concept of state-mandated girlfriends is unironic, writing:

Incels have been unironically advocating for the government to issue out girlfriends to men who are struggling with dating for quite some time now. It’s very telling that the state mandated girlfriend in this picture is a very attractive woman with big breasts and she’s clearly above his looksmatch. So here’s your reminder that most incels aren’t truecels, because they’re not men who can’t get women, they’re men who can’t get the women they want. There’s an infestation of young men claiming to be incels and then treating ugly women like they’re invisible & only trying to pursue average & above average looking women, despite not being as attractive as these women. These men wouldn’t be caught dead with an ugly woman lol.

Between September 13th and 14th, three 4chan^[13][14][15] posts offering edits of the meme were posted on the /pol/ board.

On September 14th, 2026, Redditor TheUnthinkingWriter made a post to the /r/antimeme^[16] subreddit sharing an edit of the Wojak meme that reads, "If Trump did this he would definitely win the mid terms," changing the context to show a man delivering a state-mandated healthcare program to the Wojak, gaining over 4,900 upvotes in a day.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References