It seems like the rise of online misogyny (which has trickled into schools and colleges) is only peaking.
Following Donald Trump's US election win, hard right pundits (like Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist podcaster and all round nause) have felt emboldened enough to come up with 'catchy' new slogans against women, such as "your body, my choice" – and unfortunately, some impressionable young boys and men are repeating them all over socials.
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Following Trump's victory (a reminder: Trump has been accused of sexual misconduct by more than 25 women and found liable for sexually abusing one), Fuentes tweeted on X: "Your body, my choice. Forever."
Worryingly, the comment has been liked over 38,000 times.
Now, women are taking to social media to share similar vile remarks they've had directed at them this week – one influencer, Camila Guadarrama, even said she'd had to delete one of her videos "because I was being threatened and several men [were] commenting saying they couldn't wait until I get [raped] or [they were saying] 'your body my choice'."
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Another TikTok user by the name of Emily Rose called out a commenter who dropped "your body, my choice" under one of her posts and referred to him as a 'scumbag'. Her comments were unfortunately further filled with users repeating the same inane phrase, along with American flag and eagle emojis.
Other disturbing remarks seen online post-Trump's re-election include an X account responding to gamer, Cahlaflour, who said she's glad to have an IUD fitted right now, with "Don't worry, we'll just rape through the IUD".
Cahlaflour called it out and shared a heartfelt message highlighting how frequent this type of dark behaviour has become, saying, "As someone with some trauma in this department, I'm horrifically saddened by all of the emboldened men on social media right now. Seeing threats like this and 'Your body, MY choice' over and over on posts, TikToks, etc... My heart aches."
Another social media user flagged that she'd spotted similarly concerning remarks, attributing them to Gen Z boys, writing in a tweet: "few things more terrifying to me rn than seeing gen z boys increasingly and gleefully commenting “your body, my choice” on young women’s tiktoks". Over 235,000 liked it in response.
Read more about the rise of Trump and misogyny here.
Jennifer Savin is Cosmopolitan UK's multiple award-winning Features Editor, who was crowned Digital Journalist of the Year for her work tackling the issues most important to young women. She regularly covers breaking news, cultural trends, health, the royals and more, using her esteemed connections to access the best experts along the way. She's grilled everyone from high-profile politicians to A-list celebrities, and has sensitively interviewed hundreds of people about their real life stories. In addition to this, Jennifer is widely known for her own undercover investigations and campaign work, which includes successfully petitioning the government for change around topics like abortion rights and image-based sexual abuse. Jennifer is also a published author, documentary consultant (helping to create BBC’s Deepfake Porn: Could You Be Next?) and a patron for Y.E.S. (a youth services charity). Alongside Cosmopolitan, Jennifer has written for The Times, Women’s Health, ELLE and numerous other publications, appeared on podcasts, and spoken on (and hosted) panels for the Women of the World Festival, the University of Manchester and more. In her spare time, Jennifer is a big fan of lipstick, leopard print and over-ordering at dinner. Follow Jennifer on Instagram, X or LinkedIn.
