Another week, another bunch of online dialogues that sucked, yet again. Here are a couple of examples of things I hated the most:

‍The Female Gaze

This week, many online have been discussing the idea of the “female gaze”, a play on the feminist theory concept of the “male gaze”, after a subset of women found a TikTok creator by the name of Kevin strangely, and unconventionally attractive. Promptly after his short-lived praise it was revealed that Kevin appeared to be a misogynist.

It all started when Kevin created a video doing a “confidence” challenge, where someone appears shy and lacking confidence and then changes up their demeanor, supposedly creating confidence and showing the duality of one’s appearance/personality. Now once this guy struck his confidence pose, a lot of ladies were hyping him up.

The reason, among many, people were saying he appealed to  the “female gaze” was because he was unassuming and didn’t appear to be obnoxiously into his looks—unlike other men.

Fast forward to now and it was revealed that this very creator has posted some incredibly misogynistic content—including videos that make  a joke out of beating women. 

When all this misogyny came to light, some Twitter and TikTok users threw some serious shade  to those that once said he was the manifestation of the female gaze in the first place.

I approve of the side-eye because this guy is just not it, and he is most certainly not some embodiment of what women want in men just because he knew how to quickly switch to giving bedroom eyes. To be honest, when I watched this guy take part in this so-called “confidence” challenge, first and foremost I felt cringe overcome my body because that is my reaction to most videos of men trying to seduce their camera for the purposes of TikTok. Secondly, I do not see what he did there. If anything it kind of just looks like his edible hit then and there while making the video.

While not focusing on this man’s physical appearance, I still simply didn’t see the appeal and it seems odd that so many people were willing to hype him up simply based off of one video. In a world where people’s weird opinions are always getting unearthed after they’ve gone viral, why not do a little vetting before making so many think “TikToks” about why he is the “female gaze.”

It makes you think about how the “female gaze'' is being shaped and who is assigning it.

‍Kim and Kanye’s marriage is in the news…again.

Just this week, it was reported that Kim Kardashian and Kanye West have settled their divorce, agreeing for them to both pay 50 per cent for the children’s education and for $200k to be sent to Kardashian monthly for child support.

Ever since the news  dropped, many online have been commenting their thoughts on West having to fork over $200k a month. While I do think the tweets quoting West’s 2006 song “Gold Digger” as a foreshadowing of this event are giggle-worthy, some people are very seriously referring to Kim as a gold digger. I think one of the most wild parts of celebrity divorces are when average joe’s feel the need to comment on how undeserving an ex-wife is of whatever may come her way and how she is almost always using a man for his money. 

One of the weirdest parts of all this online commentary is definitely that this $200k is neither spousal support nor is it alimony—it is simply child support. Despite this being clear in most of the articles written about this topic, many commentators are still speculating on why Kim Kardashian and her rich self would even need $200k a month. People seem to be missing the fact that this amount of money is not about Kardashian, but instead Kim and Ye’schildren. Hence child support.

Some are firing back at this ignorance with comments about how child support actually works and that it takes into account lifestyle. Yet, some still believe the number is far too high. One Twitter account, Say Cheese, tweeted about the news and a whole lot of people used it as a platform to express their issue with how much money West would need to provide. 

Another user said “I guarantee you most celebrities don’t spend 2 million dollars on their children annually lol. But it is what it is.” It’s almost as if this user doesn’t live in the same world of celebrity that the rest of us do, a world in which celebrities spend excessive amounts on their children and also flaunt it(did we forget that Cardi B’s daughter got a Birkin bag when she was a mere 3-years-old?).

The West-Kardashian children are definitely having a lot of money spent on them and the lifestyles they live thanks to their parents. If you don’t believe me, google it or watch any episode of the Kardashians—those children are living well. 

I think the funniest part of this conversation is wondering why people care so much about how much money Kanye is ordered to give his children. It seems like a lot of projecting from men who don’t find divorce settlements fair and forgiving to men.

Many are also saying that Kardashian has more than enough money to take care of their kids on her own, however, why should West be exempt from supporting his kids simply because his wife is rich? 

It seems that we have entered another instance in which men can complain about the injustice they face in relation to women. If you’re worried about how millionaires and billionaires spend their money, let's have this conversation when they’re taking private planes for frivolous travels, not when they’re trying to figure out how to provide for their children in the future.

And there you have it folks, a couple of the discourses I absolutely loathed this week. Between having to reevaluate the female gaze and wondering why people feel so bad for a father supporting his child, I am tired. I hope the future will bring less to hate, but the way the internet is set up that likely won’t happen anytime soon. Safe scrolling friends! 

-Monika