no ok but the roman empire is for men, how often do men think about the roman empire, 'this is my roman empire' tiktok meme BULLSHIT still annoys me and it's been like. months.
at first i was like am i just annoyed because i love rome? because i do think about rome all the time and i am a cis woman? why do they assume only men are into rome? (and yes i know roman history is "traditionally" thought of as a "manly" historical interest, but i thought we were getting away from that lol) but then it spiraled away from the initial tweet over wondering how much men in women's lives think about rome into "what's the equivalent for girls???" and "what's girl history?" and videos were popping up with responses like celebrity gossip from 2009, mythology, anastasia romanov, and conspiracy theories. because that's what the girlies are into!
first of all, why is it 'men' and 'girls'. second of all, why is it girl history. why are we gendering history. why must everything become "girl x subject" lately. i hate girl dinner. why does tiktok continue to fall back on gender essentialism. why are the choices being presented just a backslide into gendered history interests based on stereotypes.
and of course, there's the alt-right and white supremacist fascist overlap with (bad) views on rome, and we know there's an algorithmic issue on tiktok of alt-right/trad wife/fascist pipelines so that combined with the idea that roman history is for men, even as a meme, left me agitated and continues to leave me agitated.
even when it's something as silly as 'x is my roman empire.'
it's for men! let's separate the girlies into their own fluffier parts of history! it's just a silly joke!
but is it?