Women Don't Understand POV

About

Women Don't Understand POV is a controversial internet axiom suggesting that women don't comprehend the meaning of the phrase "POV," short for "point of view," due to a trend of TikToks, photos and other short-form videos that women claim are from their "POV," though they film themselves in the third person. Of note, there are widespread examples in which people of all genders misuse the term in this way. The misuse of "POV" has led some online to craft outlandish sociological theories to explain why women seem to not comprehend the term, with one viral example leading to intense discourse and debate in July 2024. These claims have notably been pushed back against online by some who claim they are misogynistic.

Origin

On social media platforms in the late 2010s and early 2020s, multiple short-form video trends emerged in which users acted out scenes where the camera was intended to be the POV of the viewer. For example, in the POV Funerals trend, the camera is placed such that the viewer has the perspective of lying in a coffin.

However, some users on social media misused the term "POV" making these videos, filming themselves in the third person and acting out a scene mislabeled as being from the point of view of the viewer. For example, in the POV: You're Getting Arrested trend, creators of both genders filmed themselves pretending to get arrested but called it a "POV" of getting arrested.

Many commenters have remarked that women often misuse the term "POV" for skits or stories about their lives. For example, in October 2023, conservative influencer Ashley St. Clair posted a video mocking then-Presidential candidate Ron DeSantis for a rumor that he wore boots to artificially inflate his height. She captioned the video, "POV: you’re ron desantis getting reading to leave the house," but then filmed herself acting as DeSantis putting on high heels (seen below).

One of the earliest known posts attempting to explain women's inability to understand the term "POV" was posted by Twitter / X user @SCHIZO_FREQ^[1] on May 7th, 2022, who opined, "Social media shifted the POV women view life through. It's impossible for them to return to first-person view now, they've become permanent third-person viewers. Everything is done for an audience, they're all starring in their own little dramas." The tweet gained over 130 retweets and 1,300 likes in two years (shown below).

Spread

Over the following years, the claim "women don't understand POV" was repeated online, sometimes prompting users to come up with sociological explanations for why "POV" seemed to keep being misused by women on video platforms, often with sexist undertones.

On January 12th, 2024, Twitter user @0x49fa98^[2] wrote, "it's hilarious and true that women think POV means the camera is looking at them. The only POV that is coherent to either sex is the male POV, the one that looks at women. Women know they are objects, they know it in their bones," gaining over 210 retweets and 2,800 likes in six months (shown below, top).

On January 22nd, Redditor moog_phatty complained about misuse of "POV" regardless of gender in /r/rant,^[4] gaining over 40 points in six months. On June 3rd, Twitter user @lporiginalg^[3] posted a screenshot of a woman misusing "POV" in a video, writing, "Women's inability to understand POV will never cease to amaze me," gaining over 150 retweets and 6,900 likes in six weeks (shown below, bottom).

July 2024 Discourse

In July 2024, conservative influencer @IsabellaMDeluca misused the term when she posted a picture of herself and wrote, "POV: You're watching the woman who made it to the top by giving blowjobs announce her run for President," repeating a sexist attack on Kamala Harris. The tweet was deleted but was screenshotted and reposted by user @G0ADM^[5] on July 23rd, who pointed out that the implication of the tweet was that @IsabellaMDeluca was the one who slept her way to the top and gained over 3,700 retweets and 130,000 likes in two days (shown below).

The tweet led many to opine about potential sociological reasons women don't understand "POV." On July 24th, Twitter user @kaschuta^[6] suggested women don't understand "POV" because they don't watch POV adult content or play first-person shooters, gaining over 350 retweets and 1,400 likes in one day (shown below, top).

In response, Twitter user @verymoisturized^[7] then wrote that women "struggle with categorical judgments or abstract reasoning," adding, "it’s very difficult for them to conceive of objects outside of a solipsistic frame." The tweet gained over 920 retweets and 14,000 likes in one day (shown below, bottom).

The wide spread of these posts prompted others to chime in on the discussion and accuse the points of being misogynistic. For example, on July 24th, 2024, Twitter user @muditunderscore^[8] argued that men also widely misuse "POV" and said of the discourse, "but when you see a man do it you just call the man stupid, when you see a woman do it you call women stupid," gaining over 50 likes in one day (shown below, left).

The same day, Twitter user @OInscendence^[9] wrote, "'Women don’t understand POV', 'Women objects', 'Women narcissistic', 'Female solipsism'. Once again, I must ask do you ever get bored of it? Do you ever think: 'This is stupid & tacky and the world has seen enough of it. It has no wisdom. I am better off to spend some time in silent contemplation. What is gained from uttering empty words without spirit, without creativity, without life?'," gaining over 20 retweets and 360 likes in one day (shown below, right).

Search Interest

External References