Thanks to a recent TikTok trend where women ask the men in their lives how often they think about the Roman Empire, women are fascinated and shocked about how often men ponder about the Romans.
@ambarrail This trend is incredible. Some of the best ones #romanempire #romanempirecompilation ♬ original sound – ambarrai
Some men think about the Roman Empire weekly, daily or in the case of Dr. Nicholas Albanese, a TCU Associate Professor of Italian, “hourly,” he said with a grin.
The trend has become so popular on TikTok that the “RomanEmpire” hashtag has surpassed 1.2 billion views, according to Fortune.
So why do men think about the Roman Empire so often? Some female TCU students are wondering the same thing.
“I find it weird,” Josselyn Fiallos, a first year interior design student, said. “I didn’t even know people thought about it.”
Courtney Lemons, a first year interior design student, said that men probably did not even think about the Roman Empire that much before being asked about it.
“I think about the Roman Empire too,” said Abigail Trattner, a sophomore international relations student. “But usually when it comes up in class.”
Some female students said they have a Roman Empire-equivalent, or something they think about regularly and randomly that only they would understand .
“I think about ‘Pitch Perfect,’ the Salem Witch Trials and Helen Keller pretty often,” Emilia Passanisi, a junior marketing student, said.
Hannah Sterkel, a junior child development student, said she thinks about “the ‘Barbie’ movie,” specifically the America Ferrera speech, and Tom Holland’s “Lip Sync Battle” performance of “Umbrella” at least weekly.
“I think about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire,” Stephanie Vitale, a junior fashion merchandising student, said. “It was tragic. All these women got stuck in a burning building.”
Larissa Abbott, a sophomore social work student, said she often wonders about Amelia Earhart and “what it must’ve been like being eaten by crabs.”
Several female students said they think about Princess Diana on a pretty regular basis.
However, the most repeated response was thinking about being murdered or kidnapped. Many female students said they fear being abducted and wonder how they would react in such a circumstance. Others said they think about if and how they will be murdered.
Overall, there is not just one true equivalent to the Roman Empire trend for women. Maybe no bond is quite as strong as that of men and the Roman Empire.
