TikTok is a wild place. One minute you’re watching a dog ice skate in a tutu, the next you’re being told that unless your man is peeling your grapes, ordering your dinner, and carrying you across puddles like you’re Miss Bridgerton on bath salts, then you’re being “neglected.” Enter: The Princess Treatment.
It sounds luxurious, right? Soft lighting. Your boyfriend quietly murmuring, “Whatever you want, baby” while simultaneously booking your hair appointment and sending your Uber. You? Delicately adjusting your headband and giggling into a cloud of almond milk foam. But scratch the surface of this trend, and the tiara starts to pinch.
What Is the Princess Treatment, Exactly?
It’s the new soft life aesthetic for women who want to be pampered, catered to, and cocooned in bubble wrap. On TikTok, it often looks like a woman silently smiling while her boyfriend does the talking, then gently taking her shopping bags from her delicate, unburdened arms. He buys her flowers, remembers her skincare routine, books her dental appointments, and possibly raises her serotonin levels.
And before anyone gets cranky, let’s be clear: it’s not wrong to want kindness, generosity, or a little pampering in a relationship. The issue isn’t the desire for nice treatment. The issue is outsourcing your entire adult identity in exchange for being perceived as “adorably helpless.”
At First, It’s Cute. Then It’s a Silent Existential Crisis.
When you’re in the giddy early stages of love, it can feel charming to have someone “take care of everything.” You don’t order, you smile. You don’t drive, you get driven. You don’t pay, you twirl your hair while someone else taps their Amex.
But fast forward 20 years. You’re staring at a menu and realising you haven’t ordered your own damn meal since Taylor Swift had bangs. You’ve forgotten how to call your own doctor. You panic when you have to pay a parking ticket because you don’t know your Medicare number. You no longer do things, you are simply done for. That’s not romance. That’s adult baby cosplay.
Your Voice, Now in Permanent Mute Mode
Let’s talk communication. The Princess Treatment, by design, reduces your need to say anything. Cute at first, but deeply troubling when you realise your partner is just guessing what you want, forever.
How is he meant to know if you’re craving Thai or tacos? What if you’ve been a vegetarian for five years but he still orders you duck pancakes because that’s what you liked in 2019? How do you assert your needs in actual real-life conflict if your entire role in the relationship has been to blink slowly and whisper, “Whatever you think is best, babe”? This isn’t empowerment in a pink dress. This is performative passivity.
It’s Rude, Actually
There’s another under-discussed side effect of playing princess: it makes you seem like an insufferable customer. When your partner is doing all the ordering, talking, returning, complaining, and tipping, you come across as that weird lady who stares blankly while a waiter asks, “Would you like the dressing on the side?”
They don’t know you’re “soft living.” They think you’re rude, cold, or worse entitled. You’ve essentially become a non-participant in your own social life, floating one-inch off the ground while someone else handles the human parts of reality.
Photo by Zayceva Tatiana
The Tradwife Vibes Are Creeping In
Let’s be honest, the Princess Treatment shares a fork with the “tradwife” movement, where women lean into old-school domestic roles and hail submissiveness as empowerment. The TikTok version is just wearing more lip gloss.
It’s not just cringe, it’s culturally regressive. After decades of fighting for agency, education, voting rights, workplace parity, and the ability to eat a sandwich without male approval, some women are now voluntarily handing their autonomy back in exchange for matching pyjamas and a Chanel handbag.
And in 2025, that’s the ultimate self-own.
You Deserve More Than a Pink Pedestal
No one’s saying you shouldn’t be loved, cherished, or even occasionally spoiled. Romance is great. Gifts are fun. Having your man bring you soup when you’re sick is a green flag. But being infantilised every day of your adult life? That’s a slow death of identity dressed up in a bow.
A truly healthy relationship isn’t about one person playing knight and the other playing mute. It’s about two people showing up fully formed, voicing opinions, ordering their own calamari, and yes, even splitting the damn Netflix bill.
So, before you go full “princess,” maybe ask yourself: Is this what I really want? Or is it just an easy way to avoid growing up? Because at the end of the day, if you’re not careful, you might just wake up in a gilded cage, decorated with fairy lights and scented candles, but a cage nonetheless.
TikTok is a wild place. One minute you’re watching a dog ice skate in a tutu, the next you’re being told that unless your man is peeling your grapes, ordering your dinner, and carrying you across puddles like you’re Miss Bridgerton on bath salts, then you’re being “neglected.” Enter: The Princess Treatment.
It sounds luxurious, right? Soft lighting. Your boyfriend quietly murmuring, “Whatever you want, baby” while simultaneously booking your hair appointment and sending your Uber. You? Delicately adjusting your headband and giggling into a cloud of almond milk foam. But scratch the surface of this trend, and the tiara starts to pinch.
What Is the Princess Treatment, Exactly?
It’s the new soft life aesthetic for women who want to be pampered, catered to, and cocooned in bubble wrap. On TikTok, it often looks like a woman silently smiling while her boyfriend does the talking, then gently taking her shopping bags from her delicate, unburdened arms. He buys her flowers, remembers her skincare routine, books her dental appointments, and possibly raises her serotonin levels.
And before anyone gets cranky, let’s be clear: it’s not wrong to want kindness, generosity, or a little pampering in a relationship. The issue isn’t the desire for nice treatment. The issue is outsourcing your entire adult identity in exchange for being perceived as “adorably helpless.”
At First, It’s Cute. Then It’s a Silent Existential Crisis.
When you’re in the giddy early stages of love, it can feel charming to have someone “take care of everything.” You don’t order, you smile. You don’t drive, you get driven. You don’t pay, you twirl your hair while someone else taps their Amex.
But fast forward 20 years. You’re staring at a menu and realising you haven’t ordered your own damn meal since Taylor Swift had bangs. You’ve forgotten how to call your own doctor. You panic when you have to pay a parking ticket because you don’t know your Medicare number. You no longer do things, you are simply done for. That’s not romance. That’s adult baby cosplay.
Your Voice, Now in Permanent Mute Mode
Let’s talk communication. The Princess Treatment, by design, reduces your need to say anything. Cute at first, but deeply troubling when you realise your partner is just guessing what you want, forever.
How is he meant to know if you’re craving Thai or tacos? What if you’ve been a vegetarian for five years but he still orders you duck pancakes because that’s what you liked in 2019? How do you assert your needs in actual real-life conflict if your entire role in the relationship has been to blink slowly and whisper, “Whatever you think is best, babe”? This isn’t empowerment in a pink dress. This is performative passivity.
It’s Rude, Actually
There’s another under-discussed side effect of playing princess: it makes you seem like an insufferable customer. When your partner is doing all the ordering, talking, returning, complaining, and tipping, you come across as that weird lady who stares blankly while a waiter asks, “Would you like the dressing on the side?”
They don’t know you’re “soft living.” They think you’re rude, cold, or worse entitled. You’ve essentially become a non-participant in your own social life, floating one-inch off the ground while someone else handles the human parts of reality.
The Tradwife Vibes Are Creeping In
Let’s be honest, the Princess Treatment shares a fork with the “tradwife” movement, where women lean into old-school domestic roles and hail submissiveness as empowerment. The TikTok version is just wearing more lip gloss.
It’s not just cringe, it’s culturally regressive. After decades of fighting for agency, education, voting rights, workplace parity, and the ability to eat a sandwich without male approval, some women are now voluntarily handing their autonomy back in exchange for matching pyjamas and a Chanel handbag.
And in 2025, that’s the ultimate self-own.
You Deserve More Than a Pink Pedestal
No one’s saying you shouldn’t be loved, cherished, or even occasionally spoiled. Romance is great. Gifts are fun. Having your man bring you soup when you’re sick is a green flag. But being infantilised every day of your adult life? That’s a slow death of identity dressed up in a bow.
A truly healthy relationship isn’t about one person playing knight and the other playing mute. It’s about two people showing up fully formed, voicing opinions, ordering their own calamari, and yes, even splitting the damn Netflix bill.
So, before you go full “princess,” maybe ask yourself: Is this what I really want? Or is it just an easy way to avoid growing up? Because at the end of the day, if you’re not careful, you might just wake up in a gilded cage, decorated with fairy lights and scented candles, but a cage nonetheless.
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