She’s Not Celibate — She’s ‘Boysober’

There is a growing desire among Gen Z to reclaim their autonomy from their phones and remove themselves from what Shaz describes as a passive state of being. Last year, anti-tech activist and writer August Lamm predicted that abstention would be the next big thing. On X, she wrote: “I’m calling it right now, abstention is the new big thing; sobriet... See more

The movement has taken off on TikTok, where #celibacyjourney has nearly 40 million views, and videos of women discussing celibacy garner hundreds of thousands of views and hundreds of comments. While some men have posted about it, the majority of posts appear to be from young, heterosexual women — often seeking to address the role that patriarchy a... See more

This is a clear example of adopting the aesthetic and lingo of a generation—using a playful tone like "come on, you know damn well that..."—without considering the socio-political context in which the messaging operates.

In an era where women are painfully aware of the patriarchy's omnipresence, and where femicide at the hands of men is still alarmi... See more

For some, it's a statement against casual sex — a middle finger to men who they feel value them only for their bodies. To others, it's a means to recover from bad hookups or bad relationships, especially if they've been layered on top of previous sexual traumas.