The “My Girlfriend Isn’t Hungry” Trend Is Not Okay

Girlfriends around the country are collectively rolling their eyes at restaurants’ latest sexist trend. Retro diner Mama D’s, of Little Rock, AK, decided to bring the ’50s to their patrons in more than just their decor and food. They’re serving it in their attitude towards women. The family-owned restaurant is the latest to go viral for adding a menu option that calls out women who dare to eat the fries, wings, or onion rings from their partner’s plate.

Underneath their delicious-sounding traditional Southern sides (we’ll take the cole slaw, fried squash, and mashed potatoes, thank you very much) is a special option titled “My Girlfriend Is Not Hungry.” For $4.25, you can add extra fries to your order, along with two fried chicken wings or three fried cheese sticks. A photo of the menu went viral last week, and the internet immediately took sides over whether this was a genius idea or yet more daily sexism.

Petition for every restaurant to do this 🙏😂 pic.twitter.com/1qXoaZrBQ6

— WORLDSTARHIPHOP (@WORLDSTAR) June 30, 2019

Apparently, women like to tell their partners that they aren’t hungry, and then steal food.

Men are not taking it well:

When your girlfriend says she isn't hungry then eats all of your fries pic.twitter.com/laNguc6UJq

— Pete Pajor (@petepajor) June 1, 2018

Not well at all:

This is 100% my girlfriend when she says she isn’t THAT hungry https://t.co/orcXmO4MRz

— This is beans (@AdamJCoughlin) June 1, 2018

But women are also calling out hungry girlfriends:

When your girlfriend sees your food at dinner after saying she isn't hungry pic.twitter.com/M98Ga32tdy

— Karley Gauthier (@karleygauthier) May 9, 2018

Of course, this isn’t even the first time a menu has hit Twitter with a sexist twist:

Nah this the girlfriends menu https://t.co/LJNSRRlN3q

— Galvan (@ivangee13) July 29, 2018

Another restaurant, the Tipsy Coyote in Scottsdale, AZ, has taken it even further, renaming their entire salad section “My Girlfriend’s Not Hungry” — as though women only want salads on dates.

Unfortunately, it seems like these girlfriend haters haven’t considered what this trend actually says about how we judge women’s eating habits. The theory is that when women go on dates, they tend to eat less because consuming food is somehow seen as unladylike and unattractive.

A study released in 2009 actually confirmed that women tend to eat less when they’re around men. They found that when two women ate together, they consumed an average of 670 calories each, but when a woman ate with one man, she ate just 540 calories. And eating with a group of men had an even more noticeable result: an average of just 450 calories for each woman at the table.

How often do women alter how they eat on a date? It's seen as more attractive + womanly, the less we eat.

— Michelle Elman (@MichelleLElman) May 18, 2017

As Eater points out, society is quick to call out women who aren’t super slim, but they’ll also judge us as boring for turning down a burger.

But if we do order a burger, it always comes with a side of judgement.

Men don’t seem to get how much judgement women face for feeling pressure around our food choices:

Because women are conditioned by our culture to believe eating=fatness and skinniness=beauty=worth. Women are shamed for eating, esp. for eating high calorie food.

As a woman, posting a pic/vid of yourself eating is an innately rebellious act against the patriarchy https://t.co/PboRTAL2ZU

— cherry bomb (@poelogue) December 15, 2018

We’re expected and pressured to be thin, while also eating burgers whenever men demand it.

I have the same issue with those "look at meeee, I'm so goofy, I'm so 'real' (but I still posses model-like proportions), I eat burgers" women.

— Your Fave's Fave (@_ItsMarisWorld_) December 2, 2018

But on the flip side, if you are a woman who is fat and dares to enjoy food, you’re shamed even more:

good evening i’m tired of skinny women being praised for loving food and fat women being shamed for it

— quathews (@quinnmathews_) April 8, 2018

It’s not okay. Not okay at all.

Men's obsession with (skinny) girls who are eating is super weird and gross.
Do you think it's because it follows the narrative that women are mystical and incomprehensible beings? Or because it reinforces their ability to shame women that don't meet their body expectations? pic.twitter.com/9cN1WEdrxy

— No war but class war. (@swoleprole) June 10, 2019

These mixed messages go beyond menus. They’re even in some of our favorite TV shows.

Honestly, we don’t even know what we’re supposed to do at this point.

Just before our heads explode, it seems that some men get the struggle:

Love is when you buy a bag of chips instead of half a big even when your girlfriend says she isn't hungry https://t.co/WzXtM0SXnn

— Amunyo Andrew (@andre_amunyo) April 27, 2019

The upside of all this is that it makes a great date filter. If your date has a problem with sharing their fries, or tries to shame you for ordering a salad or burger or whatever else you want, you know there won’t be a date number two. So you may as well eat as much of their food as you like!