By Arpita Quadir

I can’t stop thinking about why women don’t have a Roman Empire. In response to the Roman Empire trend that blew up a couple of months ago, and let’s be real, still pops up on our For You Pages now and then,  women on the internet turned to consumer decisions and pop culture and identified it as unifying interests. But that’s not really the same thing as being fascinated by one of the most impactful historical events of all time, is it? My question is, why are so many women on the internet determined to find the common thing that links all of them together like the Roman Empire links men together, and why are they unable to find it? Feminist theory can help explain why. 

Why do so many men care about the Roman Empire, and what does this say about the way our society works?

It’s important to keep in mind that it isn’t every man thinking about the Roman Empire 24/7. It’s mostly white men in their late 20s to early 30s who are thinking about it, sometimes. Look at it this way: what type of people, specifically hetero, cis-gendered men were showing up to theatres in the 2000s to watch Gladiator? That's pretty much the group of men we are working with. Ridley Scott’s action-packed sword-and-sandal film created a gripping experience for audiences. It made them laugh, it made them feel exhilarated and most importantly, it made them feel triumphant. When Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) stabs Maximus (Russell Crowe) in the Coliseum and the two go into battle, Maximus prevails and turns Rome over to the Senate, setting the gladiators free. 

To some men, the Roman Empire represents strength and social mobility, common metrics of success for their gender—especially since, in present society, the position of a man is constantly questioned. During the Roman Empire, men weren’t scrutinized for their toxic masculine behaviour. Instead, they were praised for it, the way Maximus was praised at the end of the movie for killing off his foe and leaving the battle victorious. The system was built on strict social rules, hierarchies, class, and honour, and despite its many flaws, it persevered for centuries. Men can find comfort in thinking about a system that was created for them, by them, and thinking about how it prevailed to achieve a new form of society for so long.

But, women don't have the same kind of unified experience

Some women say their Roman Empire is when Rory Gilmore and Logan Huntzberger first lock eyes in Gilmore Girls, or when Anthony Bridgerton and Kate Sharma kiss in secret for the first time in Bridgerton. Others say their Roman Empire is some deeply personal story about something so random they are forced to think about it every day. This reveals that there isn’t one universally consequential moment in history that bonds all women together, but rather scattered examples of multiple things that are important to some women.

The Roman Empire trend asks the question of what links women together. Feminist theory considers that every woman comes from a different background, which provides them with vastly different experiences. There are racial, socio-economic, religious and sexual divides. And according to existentialist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir, it is understood in feminist theory that women don’t have a shared history. This explains why women can’t come together as a group and find their version of a Roman Empire. 

This isn’t to say that women don’t agree on anything. Several trends have emerged in the past year that show how women can actually be very similar to each other. “Girl Math”, “Girl Dinner”, “Hot Girl Summer”, and “I’m Just a Girl” are all unifying trends, but they aren’t widely accepted as something “smart” like the Roman Empire. In an attempt to empower them, these trends end up putting women down—take “Girl Math,” for example, which has become the butt of many jokes about how women are dumb. We can make similar statements about the iterations of “Girl Boss” in mass media and “Hot Girl Summer,” which heavily focuses on looks. Specifically, when looking at beauty standards, countless archetypes are confined to categories according to their visual signifiers (clean girl, mob wife, e-girl etc.) So even when women do have trends online that unify them, it’s more often than not done in a way that either reinforces stereotypes or further categorizes women according to the way they look and how they present themselves to the world. When we contrast this to the Roman Empire trend, which grouped a large group of men (albeit through a very white heteronormative lens) and at the same time recognized that they have a variety of other interests or self-expression. 

No one has the exact same experience as another person with anything in life, and yet because society predominately caters to men, they are bonded by a glorification that women just aren’t. 

Women definitely do not face oppression in the same way

According to an article from Sage Journals, feminism and activism don’t include race,  class or intersecting identities. And so, we see a very Western and watered-down version of feminism that is easy for the mainstream to feel comfortable with. Even though most women face inequality and sexism, they don’t experience it in the same ways. White women are usually the most separated in their experiences of sexism from other groups of women. The effects of othering and labelling a person as sub-alternative to the leading group, expose women to their inability to relate to one another. While women continue to have the same divisions, experience is what inexplicably keeps them from relating to one another on a larger scale. 

It should be mentioned that this trend is predominently white because men of colour are far less likely to think of the Roman Empire. But, still, white women are unable to relate to one another on the trend because they are still divided as a group. This is why we have to consider that oppression might be the only thing that all women universally have in common.

During the Roman Empire, the lives of women were defined by men. When something like oppression is what bonds a group together, it is easier to turn to seemingly unimportant things like Gossip Girl, Taylor Swift lyrics, or scenes from Mean Girls and decide they are universally compelling. By disregarding historical events and shifting the focus onto popular culture and material things, women can distract from what they really have in common: varying degrees of centuries worth of oppression, which continues to perpetuate today. 

Comparing scenes from Little Women when Laurie helped tie Amy’s dress or the riff-off in Pitch Perfect to a time in history that spanned over ten centuries doesn’t make much sense, so why bring it up in response to the Roman Empire trend? Because most trends become diluted and distorted into other sub-trends and eventually lose sight of the original meaning of the trend over time. People feel the need to recreate trends to feel a sense of belonging in the same way that men have found through the shared experience of thinking about the Roman Empire. 

And finally, in the end

The Roman Empire was the pinnacle of male ego, dominance and masculinity, which is part of the reason why they like to think about it every so often. And it makes sense that they are bonded by their shared experience of living in a society that embraces their needs. But, despite the success of the Roman Empire, it isn’t something that should be remembered for its triumphs, but for its horror. The trend that started as a funny joke, might make you realize that there is nothing funny about men thinking about a historical event that supported misogynistic systems, inequality and brutality, and then finding ways to connect it all back to our society today. Actually, it’s a little horrifying. 

I know I might sound like a Roman Empire trend hater, but I’ve also pointed at the elevator kiss scene between Nick and Jess from New Girl and said, “That’s my Roman Empire!” But using what has become internet shorthand for ‘something I like/think about a lot’ doesn’t keep me from believing this trend is a pivotal example of the misconception that our society has left oppressive belief systems in the past and that we are “forward-thinking,” when really, there hasn’t been nearly enough meaningful change.