Vengeful men on social media are staging punches, simulating stabbings and pointing firearms at the camera phones — which they call “training in case she says no.”
The “she” in question? Women who reject their romantic advances.
While the videos online are being framed as dating satire, advocates against domestic violence fear the trend could help normalize violence against women — as evidenced by shocking real-life events.
20-year-old Alana Rosa from Brazil rejected a man at her gym, Luis Felipe Sampaio, who had reportedly been bombarding her with gifts. After she repeatedly refused his advances, the accused allegedly broke into her home in São Gonçalo, near Rio de Janeiro, and stabbed her nearly 50 times before being stopped by her mother, per France24.
She was then rushed to the hospital and underwent several reconstructive surgeries, while in an induced coma, to recover from her injuries.
Miraculously, Rosa survived the attack. Her mother, Jaderluce de Oliveira, told local officials that the attacker followed similar content online — a detail that alarmed investigators and the public alike.
With her supporters in tow, Rosa attended the first criminal hearing against Sampaio on April 15.
“I think he should stay in prison forever, but I know that won’t happen,” de Oliveira told AFP reporters during a press hearing on the day of the trial.
Rosa’s story is just one example among many in Brazil.
More than 1,400 women in the country died at the hands of a man in 2025 alone, according to the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, surpassing the previous record in 2024.
The concept of femicide was codified into law just 10 years prior.
Nevertheless, a study from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro revealed 123 YouTube channels based in Brazil that promote misogynist rhetoric, boasting a combined total of 23 million subscribers as of 2024, International Business Times reported.
The dangerous meme, circulating predominantly among men in Brazil on TikTok, depicts violent training tips to use against women who say no.
Adding insult to injury, the trend went viral just as women around the world were celebrating International Women’s Day on March 8.
Experts say this trend reflects a society in which men feel entitled to women — feeling justified to enact violence upon the women who refuse them.
“It’s all about hierarchy, and women are positioned as controllable,” Professor Fiona Macaulay, an expert on gender violence in Brazil at Bradford University, told the Daily Mail.
“The idea that women should have equality is treated as somehow threatening.”
She went on to implicate the country’s hard-right former president, Jair Bolsonaro, who espoused hypermasculine and “machismo” values.
“There has been a kind of permission given for the use of violence that I think didn’t exist before,” Macaulay added.
Meanwhile, current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva recently warned that “men are becoming increasingly inhuman and violent.”
Brazilian officials over cybercrime have recently launched an investigation into the videos, citing concerns that they may incite violence against women, and also asked TikTok to remove the content while preserving user data linked to the account, according to the Straits Times.
Despite removals, officials reported that variations of the trend have continued circulating across social platforms.
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