Like - The Feminine Urge To Bite

If your girlfriend has ever tried to bite you, just know that you’re not alone. It turns out that it’s a thing. As in like, a real thing—an observable phenomenon. Go search for it on TikTok, if you want proof. There are lots and lots of videos about this. Google has articles for you, if you prefer the written word. It’s a fascinating vestige of gender essentialism, an appendix that isn’t at risk of bursting. What is it about women that makes them want to bite their boyfriends? I don’t have a fancy neuro pathway answer for you. I’m inclined to believe in a mystical answer, that there’s something deep and innate that drives this behavior for no rational reason. The nerdy term for this urge is Cute Aggression, which is fitting enough even if that isn’t a cute name itself. It’s said that people do this to mark their significant others in a playful, harmless way. I buy that explanation. Now, the literature suggests that this isn’t strictly a female urge but the preponderance of claims suggests that it is at least weighted that way. I’ve never heard any of my male friends say they have the urge to bite, though I bet they could be cajoled. I bet that because I took a Lyft a month or so ago and my driver was a woman. She was really chill and we had a nice ride with a good conversation, which all started because I saw that on her shoulder she had a red tattoo of a bite mark. I asked her if I was seeing that correctly and she said, “Yes. My husband gave it to me. I wanted to give him a bite mark tattoo and he said he’d only do it if he could give me one too.” That sounded about right.