Who Is a ‘Rodent Man’?

“Rodent Men”: What are they? Tiny men? Men who eat garbage? Some kind of furry science experiment gone wrong?

According to the tabloids, they’re actually the most physically desirable thing a man can be at this particularly disorienting moment in American history. Exemplified by the faces of actors like “The Bear”’s Jeremy Allen White and “Challengers” leads Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor; as well as the 1975 band member Matty Healy and Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, hot “Rodent Men” are a loose category that seems mostly to refer to men who look a bit like mice or rats. Several Styles staffers convened to discuss the origins of the “Rodent Man,” the boundaries of the type and why people are attracted to ratlike men.

Joseph Bernstein First, can we define a “Rodent Man”? I’m having a little trouble understanding who qualifies.

Gina Cherelus An unconventional mousy man with a toothy smile, and instead of a chiseled face like Brad Pitt or Chris Hemsworth, it’s more pointy. It’s important for their faces to be angular, that’s the dead giveaway. That and big ears. They come off as edgy and elusive.

JB That’s interesting. But rodents are a much broader group than just mice, right? Wikipedia tells me rodents include everything from beavers to capybara.