Women these days don’t want a conventionally attractive man. Instead “hot rodent men” are all the rage on social media.

They’re not muscular, instead they’re lean and on the scrawny side.

Often, but not always, they have dark hair and eyes and their faces are more angular.

Perhaps they’re not stereotypically attractive, whatever that is, but some women are going crazy for “hot rodent men” or “hot rat men”.

Actors such as Jeremy Allen White, Barry Keoghan and Timothée Chalamet and Taylor Swift’s ex, The 1975 singer Matty Healy fit the bill.

Comparing features that men (or women) have to animals is nothing new.

In the past, “golden retriever men” were the men of moment. There was also a trend where people sought to find out if they had a “rat face” or a “frog face”.

Last year, someone said men were either “eagle handsome, bear handsome, dog handsome, or reptilian handsome” and interestingly enough, it seems as though back then, Chalamet was not “rat handsome”, but “reptilian handsome”.

In the past, actor Glen Powell was also compared to not a rat, but arguably, the internet’s favourite type of rodent, a capybara.

After attending a premiere for a movie he was in but not invited to and smiling very enthusiastically for the camera, someone said he looked like a “capybara who made a wish to become human”.

Fortunately, Powell has a good sense of humour and told Jimmy Fallon he just kind of “owns the capybara thing now”.

@fallontonight

Glen Powell has a capybara meme moment 😂 #FallonTonight #TonightShow #GlenPowell #Capybara

♬ original sound – FallonTonight

The rise of ‘Hot Rodent Men’

Calling men “rats” both affectionally and in a derogatory way has been around since the dawn of the internet, but it seems it was a viral tweet on X that kickstarted this recent wave of the craze.

Earlier this year, Challengers, a movie starring Zendaya, came out. It also starred Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor.

On X, someone shared a pictured of Roddy St James from Flushed Away and Stuart Little, from the franchise of the same name, saying they looked like the male leads in Challengers.

But there is some crossover here. While O’Connor has been compared to the rat in Flushed Away, so has Matty Healy.

It also just happens that other men who have been slotted into this category are prominent at the moment.

Irish actor Barry Keoghan was in Saltburn, the movie that got everyone talking late last year and he also happens to be dating pop star Sabrina Carpenter.

Another alleged “hot rodent” is Jeremy Allen White, who received critical acclaim for his role in The Bear.

People also lost their minds over his Calvin Klein commercial.

Is it OK to call someone rat?

Powell might be OK with being compared to a capybara, but maybe making rodent-human parallels isn’t the nicest thing to do?

Yes, objectively, some people do resemble animals, but sometimes it’s just not a really nice comparison.

Some are having fun and praying for a “hot rodent summer”, calling on hot rodent men to stand up and step up, but some are not so impressed by the trend.

Are these celebrities crying over social media posts? Probably not, but they could be.

One person on X questioned why some people think simply putting “hot” before “rodent” makes it a compliment.

“No one wants to be compared to a rat,” they said.

The word “rat” has so many negative connotations.

They’re considered dirty, disease carriers, even dumb. But animal welfare organisation Four Paws argues these are all misconceptions.

Admittedly, this is just one of those silly trends that will be over before you know it and the masses will obsess over another type of man eventually.

Maybe a golden retriever renaissance is on the horizon.