Great news for men who’ve been likened to either the chef or the rat from Pixar’s Ratatouille: It’s your time in the sun, as more and more women are seeking out “hot rodent boyfriends,” abandoning their previously favored golden retriever boyfriends for men with more “pinched and angular” features.


Two of the most popular examples of rodent boyfriends come from Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers: Josh O’Connor, who plays Patrick Zweig, and Mike Faist, who plays Art Donaldson (Zendaya also stars in the movie, but nobody with eyes would ever liken her to a rodent).



As soon as Twitter users left the movie theater, they took to the site to draw comparisons between the two men and famous rodents from film history: Stuart Little, Roddy St. James (from Flushed Away) and Linguini (the chef, who is a human but has a rodent-like vibe) and Remy (the rat) from Ratatouille. The Ratatouille connection was only strengthened by the fact that O’Connor has mentioned it as one of his favorite movies no less than six times in recent years, cementing the link between himself and everyone’s favorite French rodent in the public consciousness.



The memes eventually led to an opinion piece in Dazed about how hot rodent men are taking the world by storm, leaving their other counterparts (eagle, bear, dog, repitalian) in the dust. Other examples of hot rodent men include Kieran Culkin, Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Allen White and Matty Healy of The 1975, who literally served as the inspiration for Roddy St. James.



Serena Smith, the author of Dazed piece, argues that rat men also aren’t as “normal” as golden retriever boyfriends like Travis Kelce; they’re a little weird, or quirky, or chaotic, but they’re almost always funny. Smith also argues that rat men are more “intelligent, witty and self-aware than people give them credit for,” and aren’t as “mindlessly obedient” as golden retriever boyfriends. Many women prefer these kinds of men to more traditionally masculine looking men (like Henry Cavill, who is “bear handsome”) because they seem less threatening and toxic, although whether they actually are is up for debate.


Fans of these men are quick to point out that comparing them to rodents isn’t meant to be an insult. On the contrary, based on how popular they appear to be, if a girl calls you a hot rodent man, she is almost certainly flirting with you and trying to compliment you. Why not invite her back to your place to share a wheel of cheese and see where the night takes you?