Women in Male Fields, Tini's wedding and the return of size zero
Do keep up!
It’s been a busy week, let’s get into it…
Trends, trends and even more trends
Women In Male Fields… is the latest gender wars trend to blow up on TikTok, and this time it’s women mimicking the traits commonly associated with toxic masculinity and turning the tables on men. Soundtracked to Nicki Minaj’s Anaconda, women are sharing moments where they’re being dismissive, baiting and switching or straight-up gaslighting their partners.
Each post includes a savage anecdote and the tag #womeninmalefields which Know Your Meme says has its origins in a viral Twitter post from last year.
The trend has also found its way to Instagram and X/Twitter, and in a sure sign it’s boiling hot some male creators have tried to produce their own versions which prompted one commenter to warn that “they are fighting back”. Bring it on fellas.
Going viral
Tini’s wedding… The social media chef, with a mac and cheese recipe that’s been viewed on TikTok more then 100 million times, got married last weekend and treated fans to an aisle-side seat of her special day.
She posted 12 times from the wedding day including an edit of her getting ready that’s been viewed more than 24 million times.
Across all the wedding content Tini posted, she’s had over 113 million cumulative views. Take note Vogue Weddings, this is what the people want!
Pastor Mark… If you love messy TikTok drama then have I got a story for you. It starts with Mama J, a mom of six, who went viral after blasting her preacher husband, Mark, for leaving her for their “Christian marriage counsellor”, Susie.
After hitting back at the claims, Susie then did a 180 by ditching the pastor and apologising for her role in the TikTok train wreak in a tearful video. Who needs Jerry Springer when there’s the clock app?
So hot right now
GloRilla… The Memphis rapper has exploded this year thanks to two banger-packed albums and a lyric that’s going viral on TikTok.
The 25-year-old’s track WHATCHU KNO ABOUT ME features a line which ends “eugh, eugh” and it’s got TikTokers in such a chokehold it’s inspired a remix from the music creator som som which extends the “eugh” multiple times.
The viral success of the track, as well as a feature on Tyler, The Creator’s song Sticky, has meant GloRilla’s gone from around three million monthly listeners on Spotify at the start of the year, to over 24 million today.
Gift guides… I said last week that they’ve become a plague but then Pinterest hit me with theirs and now I’m backtracking. They partnered with creators and artists with major taste including Emma Chamberlain, Victoria Paris and Laufey and had them curate easy-to-browse boards. They’re especially useful if you have a Gen A/Z female on your gift list.
The return of size zero… Diet culture never went away but the proliferation of Ozempic and other GLP-1 drugs has some worried that super skinny bodies are here to haunt us again. Chioma Nnadi, the editorial director of British Vogue, flagged her fears that fashion was moving away from its recent embrace of body diversity, telling the BBC, “we're in this moment where we're seeing the pendulum sort of swing back to skinny being 'in' and often these things are treated like a trend and we don't want them to be."
Nandi’s concerns come as some high-profile celebrities have faced scrutiny for their thinness. I don’t want to contribute to the body shaming by naming names, but their presence in culture undoubtably has an impact. Whether they intend to be or not their bodies are highly likely to become thinspo for a generation of girls with eating disorders.
Bluesky… User numbers for the Twitter clone platform have hit record highs of 20 million while the number of people deserting X/Twitter has spiralled. As ever the wonderful John Burn-Murdoch from the Financial Times created the visuals to show the key moments that caused the shift…
While many high profile accounts have joined and it’s possible to get a quick hit of news during a short scroll, the vibes and energy on Bluesky aren’t a match for Twitter in its heyday. Sadly, I doubt we’ll ever have that town square buzz on one platform ever again. In keeping with our trajectory towards deeper polarisation, where a person choses to post their thoughts will likely become a signifier of their politics. The right will coalesce on X/Twitter, Truth Social and Gab, while those on the left hang out on Bluesky and bond over their exile from the place they used to love (and where they had significantly more followers). What that means for Threads is anyone’s guess as it’s very much gone out of its way to not be a news destination.
AI… If you were wondering how much teens use AI to help them complete tasks then let me tell you that “college admissions” with “ai” is currently being searched more than ever in the U.S. according to Google Trends. But you have to give Gen Z some credit for their street smarts as “ai detector” is also a top trending search.
TikTok… as it looks increasingly likely it’s not going to be banned in the U.S. following Trump’s victory. It probably helps that his former campaign manager Kellyanne Conway is advocating for the video app.
This week I’ve been…
OBSESSED WITH:
This insanely creative shoot for Jacquemus with model-of-the-moment Alex Consani, created by Lisa Jahovic
The possibility that NPC TikTok stars Pinkydoll and leaks._.world are dating
Mark Zuckerberg’s enduring commitment to being the ultimate wife guy
The Onion teaming up with Sandy Hook families to buy InfoWars
Melissa Rein Lively’s very public (and very failed) bid to become the White House press secretary
READING:
The fabulous articulation of a character type that I’ve long been obsessed with… the Elusive International Hot Girl. Substacker
nailed her down in her newsletter trademarkedMolly-Mae On Motherhood And Her “Princess Diana And Charles” Level Break-Up in Vogue
A new study from Pew Research which shows that 37 per cent of Americans aged between 18 and 29 say they regularly get news from influencers
Nathan Heller’s argument that “ambient information, however thin and wrong, is more powerful than actual facts” from his The New Yorker article which analysed the Republican’s approach to messaging in the U.S. election
Inside the Republican false-flag effort to turn off Kamala Harris voters from The Washington Post
LEARNING: That nearly two in three young women say they’re unwilling to compromise when it comes to finding what they want in a partner after attending Bumble’s swanky 2025 Dating Trends event last week. The matchmaking app surveyed 40,000 of their Gen Z and millennial members and found that 64 per cent of women say they’re being more honest with themselves and sticking to boundaries in their love lives. The poll was completed before the surge in interest in the 4B movement so I’m super curious whether women’s approach to dating significantly changes in the next year. Keep polling - and thanks for the invite - Bumble!
EXCITED FOR: The new Fleetwood Mac documentary
SHOCKED BY: The number of people who tuned into the Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson boxing match on Netflix expecting it to be anything more than a clout chase and pay day for all involved. The fact it wasn’t pay per view was a big clue that it was going to be more spectacle than sport. The real winners were undercard fighters Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano who showed how captivating women’s boxing can be, and, of course, Tyson’s ass cheeks.
💅Shameless self promotion corner💅
Want to hear me chatting with Blankstreet Playa, the anti-incel icon who’s helping men up their game by giving them life and dating advice? You can hear that and more right here (from 1:06) from Tuesday’s BBC 5 Live show with Nick Bright.
You got this far…
… so maybe I can assume that you like it here? If so would you consider supporting my work and becoming a paid subscriber? A highly flammable subscription costs less than one bouji coffee a month and helps me pay for the therapy I need after spending so much time on TikTok. I thank you in advance!
highly flammable is produced and written by Rachel Richardson
She’s a content creator, commentator and consultant at Beginning, Middle and End
Want more? Check out Threads, Twitter/X and Instagram. Am also dabbling in some Bluesky thinking.
Email rr@bmend.com
Tini Youngers dress is gorgeous. I love she has gloves for her wedding dress nice touch.
TOUCHED 🥹 thank you for the EIHG shoutout xx