Have you heard of Hagmaxxing? The term has become used to describe Gen Z men who want to date Millennial women, but it actually started from a fake article on 4Chan. Hagmaxxing has since become a meme, and has fueled discussion of these age gap relationships online, but is this trend actually happening?
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00:00Have you heard the term hagmaxing?
00:01When I think of the term hag, I usually think of an evil,
00:04cackling witch. But no, apparently now it means...
00:08women above 30.
00:10The word's been spreading across social media, but what exactly does it mean,
00:13and is it describing an actual trend in dating?
00:16The term hagmaxing may be confusing, and depending on the context you've heard it in,
00:20it could mean more than one thing.
00:21Oh look at my little college man.
00:23As far as we can tell, the first few times it was used on the internet,
00:26it was in the context of becoming a hag or hag-like,
00:29playing on the popular slang suffix maxing.
00:32For example, it was used by this 4chan user who eagerly wanted to repel men,
00:36and this ex-user who posted a meme using the popular
00:39you-need-to-be-blank-maxing copypasta, starting with
00:42listen, you need to be hagmaxing,
00:44and then detailing more about this swamp-inhabiting hag lifestyle.
00:47I live in a swamp. I put up signs. I'm a terrifying ogre.
00:52But the term has since evolved,
00:54and its new meaning started completely as a joke on 4chan.
00:57On May 21st, 2024, ex-user iHypocrite posted a screenshot of a fake Vice article that read,
01:03Meet the Hagmaxers, Gen Z's new social trend of dating older women.
01:06The screenshot features a silhouette of a man labeled 20 years old,
01:10and one of a woman labeled 37,
01:12with a blurb that claims Gen Z men are ditching casual encounters with Gen Z women
01:16for long-term relationships with millennial women,
01:19who I guess are now lovingly being referred to as hags.
01:22Later that day, an anonymous 4chan user claimed credit for creating the image,
01:26writing, I made this fake article days ago,
01:28and right-wing grifters are already capitalizing on it.
01:30And it's true, once the image hit X,
01:32various media outlets just took the headline and ran with it,
01:35releasing articles apparently reporting on this, quote, trend.
01:39iHypocrite's post eventually did receive a community note informing readers that it's fake,
01:43and several users admonished them for spreading false information,
01:46and others who engaged with their post for believing everything they see online.
01:50Ladbible also amended their article to report on what actually happened.
01:53As the image spread across social media,
01:55some began to use it as a template for memes
01:57in which they pointed out age-gap romances in fiction,
02:00labeling the younger male characters hagmaxers.
02:02And like many things online that start ironically,
02:05the term soon became used in earnest to describe younger men dating older women.
02:09But is there actually a trend of this happening?
02:11While some other media outlets have since reported on this type of relationship being on the rise,
02:16it seems there isn't much actual data to support this.
02:19On September 30th, 2024, YouTuber ShoeOnHead released a video titled
02:23The Cougar Epidemic – Young Men Dating Older Women.
02:26In the video, she reports on the so-called trend,
02:28using the term hagmaxing and providing commentary
02:31on why she thinks younger men would be seeking older women.
02:34Why are all these young whippersnappers scooping up these older timepieces?
02:38Her video seemed to cause a resurgence in the use of the term online
02:41and fueled discussion of this pseudo-phenomenon,
02:44with several other notable YouTubers making reaction videos to it,
02:47like Asmongold, for example.
02:49Is this happening?