The Brief:
These twitter memes poke fun at perceived differences between women and men.
DEEP DIVE
The “every woman I know” vs. “every guy I know” Twitter meme format is a way for people to contrast the differing expectations for men and women in society.
This format originated in a comedic tweet by Lane More:
For anyone confused by the meaning of this joke, the author further explained it in a follow-up tweet:
I’m seeing a lot of replies saying “I don’t do all that” & good for you, you don’t have to!! But the point of this tweet is the world asks women to do all that, despite us not having $/time/energy for it! Point is: society asks women to do everything and asks men to do nothing🌻— How To Be Alone (by me Lane Moore) is out now (@hellolanemoore) May 2, 2019
The original tweet was a specific critique of how beauty and grooming standards expect women to put much more labor and money into their routines than men. It has inspired numerous other tweets using the same format. Some variations on this format point out imbalances in expectations for people of different genders. Others go in different directions, leaning into comedic takes that are both poignant and bizarre.
A take on a teasing playground rhyme:
An example of a more bizarre take on the format:
Some tweets, whether they’re written by women or men, make fun of men for their low maintenance or lazy lifestyles. There are some angry trolls in the replies who were clearly triggered by the way men are being made fun of, in these jokes.
Some tweets reference figures in literature and pop culture: