Eat, Hunt, Love: A Modest Proposal for Ensuring Gender Equality through Selective Dietary Practices; Or, The Geriatric Millennial’s Guide to #GirlDinner
by Jilly Dreadful
“Young women are not naturally cannibals,” says Dr. McGowan, a leading expert in digital anthropology. “It’s just the algorithms that can make them that way.”
The early videos went something like this: female voices in female voices singing the words “Girl Dinner” in a voice-over effect as dozens of increasingly strange combinations of food were shown in video sequences. A stick of string cheese with a handful of Cheez-It crackers, grapes, and a line of Sriracha on top? Girl’s dinner. A can of anchovies, some gummy worms, and a sliced kiwi: girl’s dinner. However, as the trend gained popularity, Mitchell in Michigan posted a video of roasted onions and mushrooms with what appeared to be human ears. Kira in Pennsylvania made herself a bowl of ramen and wrote in the description of the video, “Is that a soft-boiled egg or my narcissistic ex-husband’s eyeball in my bowl? ≧◡≦ Who can say?” Although social media sites later scrubbed more graphic content from their platforms, the actual content of the initial video has never been confirmed.
Some channels attribute the digital siren song to a social media algorithm influenced by the Sun’s constant as reported by NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center. Talking heads at other outlets offered soliloquies lamenting Gen Z’s lack of patriarchal respect. But whether it was due to space weather not seen since the Carrington Event of 1859, or a trending topic among an increasingly radicalized audience, only one thing was certain: Young women across the United States suddenly began targeting men known for displaying traits of toxic masculinity for literal #GirlDinner. It was as if the collective consciousness of womankind had decided to take “you are what you eat” to its logical, if terrifying, conclusion.
In Ojai, California, Kathy Griffin hosted one of her infamous dinner salons, where the main course was controversial male influencer Jake Paul. Attendees posted slow-motion videos on their Instagram Stories, showing the provocateur being roasted on a spit: a self-proclaimed alpha male ready to show off with an apple in his mouth. “It’s the fifteenth anniversary of Jennifer’s BodyAnd he’s eating locally sourced dudebro,” Diablo Cody quipped. His Instagram story not only garnered millions of views, but also thousands of comments challenging the validity of the video as a publicity stunt — because, although he wasn’t directly tagged, eagle-eyed followers also spotted Oscar-award-winning special FX makeup artist Way Neal in attendance. A meme shared more than 1.8 million times captioned the scene, “Guys should really be spit-roasted instead of going to therapy.” The expressions of the women in the footage reflect the same electric anticipation that was visible on Anthony Joshua’s face just before he knocked Jake Paul unconscious in their infamous boxing match: joy mixed with certainty, the look of someone who knows exactly what’s going to happen. Months after this #GirlDinner, Jake Paul still hasn’t surfaced. He has also not been reported missing, leading to speculation whether it was all a hoax. Another viral comparison paired the dinner footage with clips of Paul’s boxing match against Anthony Joshua: the split screen showing the women’s gleeful expressions matched perfectly with Joshua’s famous smile just before the knockout.
The caption reads, “Same energy.” Was this another outrageous stunt by YouTube’s infamous Chaos Merchant, or was it the ultimate alpha male stunt carried to a real-life horrifying conclusion?
After that #GirlDinner, the phenomenon spread faster than a TikTok dance challenge, leaving executives in awe and men popping red pills in their “designer suits, nice watches, nice belts and dress shirts.” Hashtags like #EatThePatriarchy and #ThisisWhatFeminismTastesLike also started trending.
As the madness reached its peak, a new dish emerged, playfully named, “Toxic Masculini.” On every street corner there was a sidewalk chalkboard with advertisements written in decorative script advertising “ethically sourced human meat” on their limited-time menu. Yelp reviewers raved about the “rich flavor profile of the quail”, the “soft texture of the delicacy”, and the “sweet, sweet saltiness of men’s tears”. It’s fat-free and full of irony, my favorite flavor!
But like all trends, as it began to wane, it eventually reached the hallowed halls of academia. At Dartmouth, a Ph.D. The candidate presented his/her dissertation on the topic “Gastronomic Applications of Toxic Masculinity in the Post-Digital Age.” His dissertation is still under consideration by The Graduate School’s Ethics Board.
Perhaps it was a lack of suitable materials, or maybe the novelty had simply worn off. Whatever the reason, women across the country gradually returned to more traditional eating habits. Subsequently, sociologists, psychologists, and data scientists tried to understand what happened. Was it mass hysteria? Something wrong with the collective unconscious? Or simply the logical endpoint of years of pent-up frustration?
Dr. McGowan proposed a novel theory in her TEDx talk: “What we saw was the birth of a new form of digital folklore. Just as our ancestors used stories of wendigos and vampires to process their fears and desires, we created the phenomenon of ‘girl dinner’ to confront the real monsters in our midst.” Her words resonated with millions of people, sparking a global conversation about gender dynamics, online radicalization, and the power of memes to shape reality.
As the dust settled, a new balance emerged. Men who once scoffed at the idea of emotional intelligence are now flocking to workshops on empathy and active listening. Dating apps introduced “toxicity scores” along with height and job title. And, in conference rooms across the country, men looked at their female colleagues with a new respect, including a respectful hint of fear.
But whispers persisted in the darkest corners of the Internet. Anonymous forums buzzed with rumors of underground dinner clubs where the “girl dinner” tradition continued. Urban legends spoke of a secret society of women who had tasted power and refused to give it up.
Now that the #GirlDinner festivities are over, the hard truths we’ve swallowed are lying heavy in our collective stomachs and demanding to be processed. Dr. McGowan concludes, “A new language has emerged, spoken in the dialect of hunger and satiety, power consumed and power shared. For the first time, we all become hunter and hunted, forever changed by the food we make.” Having sampled toxic masculinity, is it ever possible to eliminate our deeply ingrained prejudices, or do we simply want to be cleansed and go back to the way things were? Are we finally done, or has our taste for power only further increased our appetite for lasting change?
About the author
Jilly Dreadful writes feminist science fiction about cyborgs, mermaids, and the strange places where bodies and technology collide. His first book, Cosmobiological: StoriesHopunk, a collection of short fiction, won the Sundress Publishing Prose Manuscript Contest in 2020. His work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, longlisted by Ellen Datlow for Best Horror of the Year, and received honorable mention for Best Science Fiction of the Year. He has a Ph.D. Have obtained the degree. from the University of Southern California (you can call her Dr. Dreadful, but she’s not that kind of doctor) and is a member of SFWA. When she’s not writing fiction, she creates digital ghost stories, publishes dark humor TheMorbs.nethost Ophelia Frequencies Podcasts, and reboots happening The Brainery: Online Speculative Fiction Workshops For summer 2026.
Please visit Lightspeed Magazine To read more great science fiction and fantasy. This story first appeared in the March 2026 issue, which also features short stories by Oluwatomiwa Ajegbe, Jennifer Hudak, Matthew Kressel, Vanessa Fogg, JT Petty, Sarah S. Messenger, Patrick Hurley, and others. You can wait for this month’s content to be serialized online, or you can purchase the entire issue now in convenient eBook format for just $4.99 or subscribe to the eBook edition. Here.
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