EXPLAINED: Why Men Are Now “Rawdogging” It On Long Flights

Many of the same women who insist biological males should be allowed to compete against females in contact sports claim to be intimidated by often innocuous behavior like so-called “mansplaining” or “manspreading.”

The latest addition to this list of supposedly aggressive behavior by men quite literally describes doing nothing.

Specifically, the crude term “rawdogging” refers to men who choose to sit in silence during a flight. Some women apparently feel threatened by this completely non-confrontational act.

Psychotic behavior definitely a 🚩 pic.twitter.com/wafgWPXngT

— rosey🌹 (@thechosenberg) June 19, 2023

But many men are embracing the challenge of this flying style, as the GQ reported:

A 26-year-old Londoner named West (who asked to use only his first name) went viral in May when he posted about his decision to forgo any entertainment and pass a seven-hour trip watching the flight map. “Anyone else bareback flights?” he asked in the caption.

The concept—referred to in a vivid and perhaps unfortunate parlance as “rawdogging,” “flying raw,” and “bareback”—resonated with many in the comments on West’s TikTok page, @WestWasHere. “Yup, from London to Miami this week…pure bareback no food or water,” one wrote. “I swear barebacking flights make it go quicker,” another added.

“I’ve got DMs on Instagram like, ‘Bro, you need to teach us how to bareback flights,’” West tells GQ.

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The concept has captured significant social media attention recently:

New TikTok trend “rawdogging a flight” sees passengers giving up all in-flight amenities.

The trend has sparked mixed reactions, with some viewers amused and others disbelieving. Some even suggested making the experience tougher by placing phones in checked luggage. pic.twitter.com/u0owvba9De

— BoreCure (@CureBore) June 25, 2024

Who will be rawdogging it on their next flight? pic.twitter.com/8IqyXfLdew

— 🏴‍☠️Von Zipperface🏴‍☠️ (@VonZipperFace) June 26, 2024

The trend appears to have emerged to some extent from a scene in the Apple+ series “Hijacked.”

As the New York Post reported:

The anti-indulgence phenomenon has been loosely credited to Idris Elba’s character, Sam Nelson, on the Apple TV+ series “Hijacked.”

In the seven-episode anthology, the heartthrob-turned-hero, 50, is forced to endure the more than seven-hour flight from Dubai to London without any amenities once his airbus becomes commandeered by crooks.

Unlike other skyway hacks that put freaked-out flyers at ease, such as “going over the alpha bridge” — a sleeping trick that helps the nervous knock out while up 30,000 feet in the air — raw-dogging is all about pushing oneself to their mental and physical limits.

But “rawdogging” might have first entered into America’s collective conscience in an episode from the sitcom “Seinfeld,” as Fox News Channel’s Jesse Watters recently explained:

Men rawdogging flights is scaring women.

Paging @Tiffany_Gomas 🤣 pic.twitter.com/NvKejfRmdX

— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) June 27, 2024