'Rat Girl Summer' TikTok trend tells young women to 'cause mayhem,' stop dating men

WASHINGTON (TND) — Women who leave their homes, eat snacks and explore new places this summer may unknowingly be participating in a growing social media trend.

“Rat Girl Summer,” a term coined by TikTok user Lola Kolade, encourages women to live unapologetically without concern for what others may think, similar to the way rodents do. The hashtag "#ratgirlsummer" has racked up 26.1 million views as women everywhere submit their own interpretations of the trend.

“We’re having a rat girl summer, ok?” Kolade said in a 10 second video with 4.3 million views. “We’re scurrying around the streets, we’re nibbling on our little snacks and generally finding ourselves in places we have no business being in. Embrace the rodent energy.”

In a follow-up post, she explained the key rules for Rat Girl Summer, which include leaving the house, eating rather than starving one’s self to become skinny, making mischief and ignoring one’s instinct to cringe or overthink. These behaviors are all central tenets of rats, Kolade said.

She also noted that Rat Girl Summer is a time of decentralizing men or “rat kings.” Instead of pursuing relationships with men, rat girls should steal, shake their butts and lies to strangers.

“You may also choose to escalate this and steal from your big box store of your choice that is likely participating in wage theft,” she said. Kolade clarified the statement, noting that it was a joke “for legal reasons.”

Kolade also tried her hand at “Lazy Girl Jobs,” trend which criticized the corporate world and encouraged women to seek low effort, high paying remote jobs. In a post with over 400,000 likes, Kolade expressed a desire to date an older rich man for his money.

“Honestly, f*** a job. I want to marry a terminally ill billionaire and I shouldn’t be shamed for it. Where’s the Linkedin for that? Where’s the Indeed.com for that?” she asked.