‘Cat lady era activated’: Women dumping boyfriends, skipping work, and committing to the 4B lifestyle in their droves after election result

As the country reels from Donald Trump’s shocking presidential election victory, legions of women on TikTok have flocked to the platform to share their drastic, yet totally understandable, reactions. 

From dumping their boyfriends to avoiding their jobs or simply lamenting about the state of the world, women across the country are wallowing in collective post-election blues, as one of the demographics hardest hit by news of Trump’s return to the White House. On the more dire side of this TikTok algorithm, one woman said in a now-viral clip that regretted ever ever feeling hopeful for a Kamala Harris victory. 

“The way I expected people to vote for an educated woman that was qualified over a literal, evil piece of s**t,” user @angelfacebaby222 said, “that’s my bad.” Taking the concern a step further, another TikToker sarcastically congratulated “agent orange” and committed to “purge my followers” in light of the surprising statistics around who voted for said Agent Orange. 

Elsewhere, one user recorded herself looking despondent and teary-eyed while trying to complete her job from home (I feel you, sister), while another simply wiped away tears with the caption “God knows how tired I am.” In an even more heartbreaking reaction, user @deannagiulietti could barely hold back tears as she thought of all the little girls and trans kids who will be impacted by the election, saying she “never thought it would be Trump.”

Other women on TikTok took deep-dives into their psyche as they processed what Trump’s victory means, with user @hopeyoufindyourdad garnering millions of views as she described the election results as evidence of “the hate this world harbors towards women, LGBTQ people, and people of color.” Messages like these are valuable as the country grapples with a second Trump term, but thankfully, some women on TikTok were able to bring some-much needed levity, a form of medicine that proves essential as we come to terms with the news. 

Somehow managing to take it in her stride and find empowerment in the results, TikTok user @rabbitsandtea recorded herself proudly snuggling her cat and embracing her “cat lady era,” a direct retort to those comments made by the vice president-elect. For this user, Trump’s victory was a wake up call, as she revealed her decision to “[break] up with my Republican boyfriend” and join “the 4B movement,” a feminist movement in which women refuse to date or marry men. 

Also finding the silver lining was user @hopecavendish, who as a result of the election, found clarity in how it reflected the fact that “men hate women.” Hope said this grim reality, brought on by Trump’s victory, is “the good news,” since there’s now “no point in catering” to men. “They’re going to hate us anyway,” she said, almost with a sense of relief, “so let go, stop catering to them.”   

While fellow user @teydegennaro shared the concerns of her TikTok sisterhood, they also provided a message of partial hope to every girl currently in a post-election doom scroll. “Hug your friends,” Tey wrote in the caption, “it’s about to be horrible.” Perhaps that’s the clearest silver lining amid all this mess. That, even as Trump makes his way to the White House for a second time, we can at least lean into the support of our community.