Do you want to embrace your feminine energy? Have your husband open every door, pull out every chair for you? Are you tired of speaking and prefer he do that for you, too?
Well, you’re in luck! TikTok has the perfect viral trend for you. It’s called “The Princess Treatment,” and it’s all about embracing how some (*cough*) misogynistic people believe women should act like while in romantic relationships with men.
As young girls, many of us were told by well-meaning relatives to find a man who would treat us like a princess. So, it’s no surprise that the term “princess treatment” gained traction on social media, especially with the rise of “tradwife” content in conservative spaces.
However, what started as perhaps a desire for some women to receive more than what they deemed the “bare minimum” from men has quickly taken a more extreme turn. And it’s all thanks to Courtney Palmer, whose series of videos on the princess treatment is sparking an internet-wide debate on relationship dynamics and traditional gender roles.
Now, for those who missed the discourse and are feeling confused, don’t worry—all will be explained.
The Princess Treatment
It all started when Palmer posted a five-minute video to her TikTok account, in which she explains what the princess treatment means to her by using an example of going to a restaurant with her husband.
Princess Treatment Dining Edition 🕊️🤍 #princesstreatment #princesstreatmentonly #husbandwife #marriage #marriedlife #husband #healthymarriage
“If I am at a restaurant with my husband, I do not talk to the hostess, I do not open any doors and I do not order my own food,” she explained, before continuing to dish out her advice.
“You do not need to talk unless you are spoken to. Feminine women are not loud. You’re not going to be laughing loudly, speaking loudly, demanding the attention of the restaurant.”
The Reaction
Shortly after Palmer published the video, it blew up on the app, garnering over 7 million views in less than two weeks, along with hundreds of thousands of comments—most of them concerned.
“Me when I’m prisoner,” one user wrote.
People in the restaurant industry also threw in their two cents, with one person writing: “As a former server, if I saw this, I’d genuinely be concerned that it was a case of domestic violence.”
It also inspired countless reaction videos and parodies.
That one lady on your fyp trying to make princess treatment happen. Courtney Joelle why did you block me?!? 😭😭
In an interview with People magazine, Palmer shared that she felt “completely blindsided” by the response to her video, claiming people took what she said “out of context.”
Despite the backlash, Palmer’s videos seem to have reached a subset of women, who have been heading to her “how to get your princess treatment 🕊️✨” series for tips and tricks to apply to their own relationships. Her series has even sparked another trend called: Bare Minimum or Princess Treatment?
The Princess Treatment Versus Bare Minimum
In this trend, a man sits in front of the camera while a woman quizzes him, holding a water hose to spray him whenever he answers anything incorrectly.
How’d I do? 😅
“Opening the car door,” one man reads from a card. “That’s bare minimum.”
His girlfriend agrees.
“Unfollowing every girl on social media… that’s princess treatment,” he says.
“Wrong,” the woman replies, spraying him with water.
Depending on the couple, the definition for what constitutes bare minimum can range from “buying her favorite snacks” to “remembering her birthday” to repeating quite a few tidbits of advice that Palmer puts out in her princess treatment series.
Should We Be Concerned About This Trend?
Short answer: Yes, probably.
Over the past few years, conservative gender trends have flooded online spaces.
First came the rise of Andrew Tate and the “manosphere,” promoting a hyper-masculine ideology where men must be “alphas” and women are only “high-value” if they’re under the age of 25 with a low body count.
Then came the tradwife movement, where women glorify giving up careers to become submissive homemakers, urging others to follow suit.
Here is an example of tradwife content from arguably the face of the movement: Nara Smith.
soo good! 🫶🏽 #easyrecipe #homecooking #fypツ #momtok #toddlersoftiktok #juice
Now, it’s the “princess treatment”—another trend rooted in rigid gender roles.
While the direct impact of these misogynistic narratives is difficult to measure, their potential to radicalize—both men and women—is undeniable. Shows like Adolescence, based on a real UK case, show just how damaging the consequences of this kind of ideology can be.
That’s not to say everything Palmer promotes in her princess treatment series is harmful. She sometimes speaks meaningfully about radical self-love and self-care and advises women to demand more for themselves in relationship.
But there’s a difference between expecting your husband to remember your birthday (the bare minimum) and promoting the idea that women should not only defer to men—but enjoy doing so.
Whether the princess treatment has staying power on social media remains to be seen. Ideally, it vanishes as fast as it arrived, clearing the way for the truly pressing discourse: like whether men hating cats is just coded misogyny.
Now that’s the kind of goofy internet gender war nonsense I can get behind.
The post ‘The Princess Treatment’ Viral Trend Is Such a Red Flag appeared first on The Daily Beast.
