–by Doris Domoszlai-Lantner
When Megan Thee Stallion debuted her 2019 hit “Hot Girl Summer,” the phrase and its sentiment quickly went viral on social media. In a short time, it felt like the whole world embraced the call for women to feel confident and empowered in their bodies. Fast forward to 2024, and we’re not only on the fifth hot girl summer but what social media users and traditional media journalists alike have disturbingly called “rat boy summer” with the emergence of “rodent men” and “hot rodent boyfriends.”
Understanding the “Rodent Men” Trend
What, and who, are rodent men?
Commentators in various tabloids, as well as respectable news outlets, have described rodent men as having conventionally unattractive physical qualities like squinty eyes, an irregular toothy smile, and an angular or pinched chin. Even though the term originated around the “Challengers” film’s co-stars Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist, a slew of other well-known actors—including Jeremy Allen White, Rami Malek, Barry Keoghan, Willem Dafoe, Simu Liu, and even Timothée Chalamet—have been described as rodent men or rat boys.
The Cultural Impact of Rodent Men
The Year of the (Hot) Rat
Magazines like Vogue have declared the “Year of the (Hot) Rat,” and the otherwise social justice -oriented duo Diet Prada has leaned into the trend by asking “Ladies, do you have a favorite “rodent man?” Mike Bedigan of The Independent, however, pointed out that this term may not be as cute and playful as many are making it out to be. “At the end of the day though, you are just describing men as rats – an animal that is historically associated with cunning, filth and a literal plague that wiped out around 25 million people across Continental Europe in the 14th century,” he writes. (Interestingly, recent scientific research has shown that the plague was most likely spread by humans and the fleas and lice that inhabited their hair and clothes.)
The Dark History Behind Animalistic Imagery
Even though it’s seemingly meant to be endearing and gimmicky, there is a much darker history of using animalistic imagery and rhetoric to describe human beings. Comparing people to animals—and, in particular, those with the least desirable traits—is a tactic used throughout history to dehumanize, discredit, and persecute certain populations, especially racial, social, and religious minorities.
Historical Context of Dehumanizing Comparisons
Jewish People and Rodent Imagery
Jewish people have been compared to, described, and depicted as vermin, and specifically, rodents, throughout history. Some of the worst examples come from the last century, in the period prior to, and during the Holocaust. Caricatures of Jewish people as rats who were wreaking havoc, or even being exterminated, were especially common in both mainstream and propaganda publications, like Der Stürmer, in Nazi Germany. Dehumanizing text and imagery like these were the reason that author and cartoonist Art Spiegelman depicted Jews as mice in his famous books Maus (volumes 1 and 2) graphic novels about the Holocaust and its aftermath. A recent example is from 2020, when the South Africa branch of the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement used this animalistic trope to depict Israeli leaders as rodents in a large brick of cheese.
The Broader Scope of Animalistic Comparisons
It’s not just rodents. Posts and memes characterizing people as snakelike, reptilian, doglike, and more, are also making their rounds on social media right now, but again, this is not new. Black people have time and again been the victims of simianization, or being compared to apes. As Robert L. Harris Jr., the National Historian at Alpha Phi Alpha, a Black fraternity in the U.S. tells us: “When racists want to denigrate African Americans, they usually compare us to animals, more specifically “apes.” In post-Civil War America, Black people were often illustrated with ape-like features in politically-charged caricatures that disparaged government policies meant to help the country, including its millions of formerly enslaved individuals, recover socially and economically. There were several well-known examples of Black people like Ota Benga, who were kept in zoos like the Bronx Zoo in 1906, caged and displayed next to animals. More recent examples include President and First Lady, Barack and Michelle Obama, being depicted and described as monkeys during their tenure. And in 2017, after rightful public outcry, the Hubei Provincial Museum in China removed several pieces that showed side-by-side photographs of apes and Black people in their “This is Africa” art exhibition.
Fashion and Cultural Reflections
Fashion as a Cultural Gauge
In a recent interview with the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, New York Times fashion critic Guy Trebay noted that “fashion is the first language of a culture, it is one of the more reliable ways to gauge where we are and where we are going.”
If these are the words and sentiments we are using to describe what’s attractive and fashionable right now, then how will we describe what we deem unattractive, undesirable? How much lower will we go?
The Importance of Respectful Language
Even though Jewish and Black people were often the targets of this kind of vitriol, other groups have been targeted as well, like in a 2015 cartoon in the Daily Mail that hatefully commented on Muslim migration into Europe using rat references. These terms and analogies are rather unfortunately inclusive; they could be applied to anyone. Timothée Chalamet is Jewish, but Rami Malek is Egyptian, and Simu Liu is Chinese, but to focus in on their ethnicities would be missing the point: no one should be called a rodent, or an ape, or other animal, for that matter. Doing so removes that person’s humanity, plain and simple.
Comparisons and equivalencies like these have allowed for and even encouraged the injustice and persecution at the heart of some of society’s most catastrophic periods, like the Transatlantic Slave Trade and the Holocaust. Even though it may seem harmless or like a joke, we’ve seen that words and the actions that they provoke can have some serious consequences.
Language is powerful; let’s use it carefully, consciously, and respectfully.
—Doris Domoszlai-Lantner is a fashion historian, educator, and archivist. Read more about her work at www.dorisddl.com and follow her on Instagram and X @doris_ddl
Related Articles
