And what do YOU THINK your Personal roman empire IS?
During the month of September, social media was booming with trends, as usual, but one trend that had me slightly confused and then thoroughly amused was the Roman Empire “Trend” that quickly made its way across TikTok, Instagram, and X (Still Twitter in our hearts).
First things first, a quick explainer on the Roman Empire trend: Originally, the trend started with women asking the men in their lives, either their boyfriends, brothers, friends, or dads, about how often they think about the Roman Empire.
Turns out, some men think a lot about the Roman Empire, and women took to social media to share their surprise. My mini social experiment with some of the males in my personal life followed the trend, and they think about the Roman Empire or other random topics of interest a lot more than you would think.
However, the trend evolved into women sharing random topics that they think about daily, discussing what the female equivalent to the Roman Empire is.
In all honesty, the answers vary. Serious answers include historical events, celebrity deaths, art periods such as the Renaissance, certain monarchies, the Salem Witch Trials, the Titanic, and civil rights movements.
Other answers derived from pop culture such as award show speeches (or interruptions), certain movies, movie plots, TikTok edits, books, music video scenes, Instagram lives, iconic scenes from beloved sitcoms, or that one YouTube video you found in middle school.
And then some answers came from personal shared experiences in womanhood that hit a little close to home, like a friendship breakup, thinking about your safety, gossiping about what old classmates are up to, and feeling nostalgic about a smell or drink.
The range of the women’s Roman Empire is wide, and extra brownie points to you if your answer to your personal Roman Empire would potentially shock men. But I also consider this trend an interesting introspective of the human experience. There are many things that we can emotionally connect to that we then dwell on for years, whether it be a piece of art or a piece of history. It can have the same lasting effect on you as it does on others.
I enjoy the idea that there isn’t a solo experience, that there are people in the world who can connect on some level to how an experience made you feel or a movie made you laugh, or a historical moment that made you think for days on end that there is someone else that can relate on a level. I think it’s oddly beautiful to think about and I will continue to think about everything that goes into my Roman empire, I haven’t quite decided yet.
Until next time, HCXO Gabby