As the American political realm and social media influencers trend towards more traditional gender roles and expectations, young women are reclaiming cuffing season in the name of friendship.
Yuzu, a social app aimed at the Asian community, recently published a "Cuffing Season Survey" revealing that as the months get colder and the holiday season is upon us, Gen Z women aren't searching for love. According to the survey, 60% of Gen Z women are actively seeking platonic friendships during cuffing season.
According to a 2023 Pew Research study, about half (49%) of Americans aged 18-29 say it's harder to make friends now than it was for previous generations. The study also found that young women are more likely than young men to maintain multiple close friendships, with 44% of women aged 18-29 reporting having 4 or more close friends compared to 29% of men.
While many factors like the economy and the pandemic have impacted how this generation dates, Gen Zers say their emphasis on friendships and refrain from committed relationships is ultimately an active choice.
"Gen Z is the generation whose experiences of high school, college and getting their first jobs -- places where people are often likely to meet their future spouses -- were derailed by a pandemic. But despite the struggle to find a partner due to these circumstances, many of us, myself included, are refraining from commitment by choice -- one made somewhat out of fear, but mostly to prioritize self-care and existing interpersonal relationships," former CNN intern Sara Forastieri Vicente wrote.
Social media has deemed the months winding down the end of the year "cuffing season," when singles look to find a partner to spend the holiday season with, or at least feel the pressure to.
Yuzu's survey reveals a shift for Gen Z women who are not falling in line with traditional social standards.
According to the survey, 66.7% of Gen Z women said they value friendships equally or more than romantic relationships. A UCLA study published in October found that deep friendships shape happiness for single young adults, and are associated with better physical health and lower levels of depression.
"While all of these indicators mattered, friendship satisfaction stood out as the most important. Young singles who were very happy with their friendships were more likely to feel satisfied with their lives overall," happiness researcher Lisa Walsh wrote in her analysis.
As young women value friendships, men are not on track to do the same. Yuzu found that only 41.9% of Gen Z men said they value friendships equally or more than romantic partnerships, falling in line with other reports which have found men are increasingly lonely. In 2023, Pew Research Center reported that 6 in 10 men under 30 are single, which is double the rate for women in their age group. Additionally, 1 in 4 men say they have no close friends.
Angelica Ferrara, Stanford University social psychologist and author of "Men Without Men," set to publish in Spring 2025, says that masculine stereotypes and expectations are what set them back from developing these close platonic relationships.
"The very qualities that patriarchal masculinity emphasizes are at odds with the things men most need to thrive," Ferrara said.
A 2021 Survey Center on American Life study revealed that the percentage of men who say they have at least six close friends has dropped from 55% in 1990 to just 27% today. The study also found that 15% of men report having no close friendships at all, a fivefold increase from 1990.
This loneliness has been cradled by online forums, podcast personalities and real-life elected officials who push belief systems that reaffirm that men are not the problem and point the finger at women. Influenced by "red pill" ideology, which frames extremism as an expression of masculinity and manosphere culture, driven by antifeminist online communities, young men are becoming radicalized.
"For some users, the red pill was appealing after experiencing a difficult breakup or being cheated on, whereby such challenging personal experiences could be explained by the ideological belief that women are evolutionarily-wired to cheat or manipulate men," Joshua Thorburn, author of a 2023 study of the the manosphere and deradicalization wrote.
As these ideas are upheld by those who will soon step into the most powerful roles in our country, men like President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk, women are taking even more steps back from dating.
As young American men become more conservative, women are pushing against societal standards to date and marry.
After the results of the 2024 election, the 4B movement began trending on American social media platforms. 4B is a feminist South Korean movement in response to violence against women in Korea which calls for no heterosexual marriage, no childbirth, no dating, and no heterosexual sexual relationships
American women have called for a U.S. version of the 4B movement. 24-year-old data analyst Ritu Khan told Teen Vogue she encourages women to take it a step further and boycott spaces "where women are essentially a product men get for free", such as bars and clubs.
"Women could make a huge impact on the economy and leverage it to get the government to meet our demands, such as reinstating Roe v. Wade. [Because] this industry depends heavily on women, it is an act of protest to not be in attendance and disrupt their revenue," Khan said in November.