The “English or Spanish” TikTok trend has strangers freezing up, Gen Z guys are embracing skincare routines, and YouTuber MrBeast could be in some legal trouble. But first:
Song of the Week
“Timeless” by The Weeknd and Playboi Carti
The Weeknd has been leaning in to an inventive, infectious, and melancholic space pop sound in his new releases, and this collaboration with rapper Playboi Carti is no exception. This new single debuted at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart this week. Listeners are calling out Carti’s verses as notable for quick switches between a deep bass delivery and a baby-voiced falsetto. The lyrics don’t offer much of a narrative beyond references to doing club drugs, selling out shows, and sexually demeaning a woman who hopes for fidelity. For the lyrics, click here (language).
Three Conversations
1. Boys’ Skincare
What it is: According to a survey from market research firm Mintel, almost 70% of 18- to 27-year-old men are now using facial skincare products.
Why it’s different now: Topics like beauty, wellness, and skincare represent entire cottage industries on TikTok and are often aimed at women. But now it would seem that many young men (language) are being equally convinced of the benefits of high-end grooming habits. The expectation that young men should always be as camera-ready as possible may be a contributing factor here. And though to previous generations a young man’s preoccupation with skincare might have suggested a particular sexual orientation, today this is no longer necessarily true. As The Cut puts it, “[I]t doesn’t seem as if stigmas [about men using skincare] have eroded as much as they have vanished almost completely, the baggage having been stolen before its arrival at claim.”
Continue the conversation: Why do you think so many young men are using skincare products now?
2. Courting Trouble
What it is: MrBeast, the world’s most popular YouTuber, is being accused of fostering a hostile work environment, among other things.
Why it’s bigger than one YouTuber: As Suzy Weiss points out in The Free Press, MrBeast’s brand is built on being creative, weird, and at times, willfully stupid. But that’s not working out so well at the moment. A leaked workplace manifesto that told workers to encourage on-camera stupidity, accusations that one video violated the Geneva Conventions, and a class-action suit from five contestants on his recently filmed game show paint MrBeast as naive to the customs of the bigger business world. MrBeast seems to be discovering that you can’t run a giant production company on boyishness and brotherhood alone. And if and when he embraces the winds of change, the sizable chunk of YouTubers who copy his style may follow.
Continue the conversation: What do you think the recipe is for YouTube “success”?
3. “English or Spanish?”
What it is: A TikTok trend started by @alfonsopinpon_ involves saying to strangers, “Excuse me, English or Spanish?” Then, after the stranger answers, the speaker says, “Whoever moves first is gay,” and films how long they stand still.
How it works: The initial question, “English or Spanish?” helps lower participants’ guard. “Why would someone be asking my preferred language?” unsuspecting subjects might think. The follow-up comment, that “Whoever moves first is gay,” is maybe the last thing they expect to hear—and many people instantly freeze. The surreal result resembles the “mannequin challenge” from a few years ago, and is sometimes soundtracked by a slowed down version of the song “Static” by Steve Lacy.
Let’s translate this one further…
An article from The Daily Dot attributes people freezing to “persistent homophobia.” Another article, from The Mary Sue, argues that the trend “shows the deep homophobia that still exists in this world that the simple idea of being perceived as gay is enough to have (typically) straight men instantly freeze and refuse to move.” These articles suggest that everyone ought to be willing to be perceived as potentially gay—and that anyone’s unwillingness to do so signals “an intense, persistent, irrational fear” of gay people.
But is that really what this signals? Or is this just middle-school-level humor catching people off guard?
The song “Good Luck, Babe” by breakout artist Chappell Roan narrates an experience of what is sometimes called “comphet,” short for “compulsory heterosexuality.” This is the idea that it is only our society that pressures us to view heterosexuality as the norm, and that without such society we would all be free to “be our true selves.”
The “comphet” idea stands in stark contrast to how theologian Nancy Pearcey relates sexual orientation to biology in her book Love Thy Body. She argues that regardless of whatever feelings or attractions someone has, their biology always indicates what sort of romantic relationship will ultimately be most satisfying for them—namely, one with someone of the opposite sex—because our bodies have been given to us intentionally by a loving Creator.
This all may seem like an overanalysis of what was really just a distasteful joke. But as one mom recently shared with us, her son’s questions about this trend marked the moment where she explained to him what being “gay” meant. Opportunities for conversation about sexuality and God’s design sit just under the surface of even the goofiest trends. (For more on this, check out our podcast conversation with Laurence Koo on “Same-Sex Attraction, Celibacy, and The Gospel.”)
For a full “translation” of everything in this issue, check out our Monday Roundtable podcast. In the meantime, here are three questions to spark conversation with your teens:
Continue the conversation:- Have you heard of the “English or Spanish” trend?
- Why do you think so many people freeze?
- What do you think about filming prank videos that involve strangers?
Parenting together,
The Axis Team
PS: Help us reach the next generation—share the CT with a friend!