What happens when you start agreeing with those “you’re so hot” messages you receive on dating sites and social media? One college student began agreeing with the compliments guys sent her online, and she received some shocking reactions.
Claire Boniface is the 20-year-old University of Winchester student behind the “agreeing with boys when they compliment you” social experiment. When she received a message from a guy telling her she was “hot” or “beautiful,” she began agreeing with the compliments instead of responding with thanks.
"I was curious to see how the people that messaged me would respond,"Boniface told The Huffington Post. "Often when I get messages on that site simply complimenting me I just ignore them because the compliments are never sincere and I see no reason to respond, so I thought I would try out a simple response of 'yes' and see what would happen"
As it turns out, guys do not like when women do this.
Boniface shared the reactions online and the experiment soon went viral.
After seeing Boniface’s experiment, 18-year-old Gweneth Bateman followed suit with the messages she received. The responses she shared were just as hostile.
"Many responses state how 'vain' and 'conceited' I was for agreeing with their compliment which I found baffling," Bateman said. "Why give me the compliment in the first place if you didn't want me to believe it?”
What are we supposed to make of these messages? Are women expected to give thanks to men who throw them compliments, as if the acknowledgement of female beauty is something only men can give? If a woman is confident and proud of herself—whether it's in appearance, personality or any other trait or achievement—is it not acceptable for her to say so?