Men Think About the Roman Empire All the Time. Here’s What Women Say They Think About
Men broke the internet’s collective brain last week when viral videos revealed that many of them think about the Roman Empire more frequently than many of us could have imagined. The trend became popular not only because of women’s incredulous responses to their straight-faced answers but because it felt like a secret, hiding in plain sight, had suddenly been unearthed for all to analyze. Shortly after this revelation on TikTok, women started sharing their version of the trend in viral videos across the app.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]Participants in the response to the trend most commonly stitch a video from a woman named Emmy (@sophisticatedspreads). In her video, she asks the audience, “But what I want to know is what is the female version of the Roman Empire? What is something random that we think about on a very regular basis that is female-specific?” For this trend, however, there is not just one topic that TikTok users can agree on, but a wide-ranging smorgasbord that ranges from murder to other historical eras to Fleetwood Mac’s 1997 live performance of “Silver Springs,” in which Stevie Nicks sings into Lindsey Buckingham’s soul.
Historical moments were popular among the women taking part in the trend. One user posted a video saying that women think about one or a combination of four things: The Six Wives of Henry VIII (or Tudor history in general), the Titanic (not the movie but the unsinkable ship that sunk), the Romanovs, and Greek mythology. The comments were filled with users agreeing. “I think about the Titanic almost daily,” one person wrote. Another person said, “I think about the Romanovs every week easily.”
Classic literature (and film adaptations thereof) also appeared as someone made a reference to the Pride & Prejudice hand-flex scene featuring the hand acting of Matthew Macfadyen, a.k.a. Tom Wambsgams. This scene from the 2005 movie was wildly popular on Tumblr, so it’s not a surprise that it has made its way over to TikTok.
Music performances were another popular category. In addition to the aforementioned Fleetwood Mac performance, Tom Holland dancing to Rihanna’s “Umbrella” on Lip Sync Battle was a response that was unanimously agreed upon. A different user made a video saying she thinks about Taylor Swift—and getting kidnapped.
In this vein, some of the videos featured women saying they thought about more serious topics like murder, though many were made with a tone of dark humor. One person made a video showing her friends’ responses to the prompt, “How often do you think about murder per week?” Replies included, “I think maybe 5-7 times a week, depending on what I’m doing” or fairly frequently because “I listen to a lot of murder podcasts.” One simply replied:“Often.” In the comments section, someone aptly pointed out that the thought is “about people being murdered and not murdering.”
Past friendships that fell out were also another frequent topic. There are multiple videos of people saying they think about their ex-best friend.
Some women also say that they think about the Roman Empire a lot, too, and offer their own reasons. “When they would do a good job at something, they would get little leaf hats,” one TikToker said. “They wore special dresses.” Turns out, ancient civilizations have something for everyone.