The Romance Economy: Pink Pill Culture & Dating Strategy
A few months ago, I realised I had become, at least in part, what the internet now calls "pink-pilled".
Not because I wanted to marry a millionaire or because I believed women should manipulate men into paying for their lifestyles, but because, after years of hearing women apologise for wanting more, something about the rhetoric felt refreshing. My TikTok feed became increasingly populated with videos about "high-value men", "provider mindsets" and Shera Seven's now infamous phrase, "sprinkle sprinkle". I found myself agreeing with more of it than I expected. After all, what was so controversial about believing women deserved better?
What I Learned About Living From Cookie Mueller
Last week, while sitting beside a pool in Lefkada, Greece, on a girls’ holiday, I started reading Walking Through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black by Cookie Mueller. I picked it up at a time when I felt unusually uncertain about where my life was heading. After one of the most turbulent years I have experienced, I found myself questioning everything: my family, my relationships, my ambitions, and the person I was trying so hard to be.
I realised something uncomfortable about myself while reading this book: how much of my life has been shaped by wanting to be seen. I want to be perceived as successful, as the overachiever, as pretty, as interesting, as someone people talk about and admire. And while those qualities are genuinely part of me, I hope. I started to wonder how much energy I had spent performing a version of myself rather than simply living.
Cookie Mueller’s writing arrived at exactly the right moment.
Too Close for Comfort: Heated Rivalry and Parasocial Culture
“Parasocial” was named Cambridge University Press & Assessment’s Word of the Year in 2025. It’s a term whose relevance seeps through the cracks of the internet. According to Cambridge, it means “involving or relating to a connection that someone feels between themselves and a famous person they do not know.” If you have your finger on the pulse of social media, this definition likely feels familiar. Within fandom spaces especially, parasocial relationships are increasingly prevalent. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with feeling connected to a piece of media, its characters, or even the actors who portray them — but sometimes an invisible line is crossed. With the rise of the hit TV show Heated Rivalry, those blurred lines have become more visible. Can we consume media and love it without becoming too involved? Of course. But when does admiration become too much?
Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce, and the Closest Thing America Has to a Royal Wedding
When Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce got engaged, the news didn’t just land as a pop star marrying a football player; it was treated like history. Headlines declared it “the closest thing to an American royal wedding,” as though an engagement could double as a coronation. People magazine even called it “our answer to a royal wedding,” complete with balcony-kiss comparisons to Charles and Diana. TikToks flooded timelines, NFL dads shrugged in amusement, Swifties wept, and for one surreal moment, America behaved as if it finally had royals.