What is the dadbod? Do we like the dadbod?
These are the questions that have plagued the Cut staff since we first learned the term yesterday. To answer the first: The dadbod is a physique characterized by undefined muscles beneath a light layer of flab, usually topped off with a beer belly. “The dad bod says, ‘I go to the gym occasionally, but I also drink heavily on the weekends and enjoy eating eight slices of pizza at a time,’” explains Mackenzie Pearson, a Clemson sophomore, at The Odyssey.
To answer the second, we discuss:
Isabel Wilkinson, senior editor: Okay, does everyone know — or have you known — a man who could be considered a dadbod? Do you like dadbods?
Allison Davis, writer: Pro dadbod here. Don’t ever want to see a defined muscle. A dadbod makes me think we could eat pizza in bed together and never feel guilty or judge one another.
Isabel: I know someone who divorced her dadbod.
Kathleen Hou, senior beauty editor: Was he always a dadbod, or did he become a dadbod over time?
Isabel: Everyone else knew him to be a dadbod, and somehow she just did not see it.
Kathleen: I feel like there are two different types of dadbods: (1) Sloth-grossness-girls-want-to-bang-me-anyway (Leonardo DiCaprio) or (2) Sloth-fun (I just like Netflix in the winter).
Isabel: I think dadbod is more channeling a state of mind — that of letting one’s self go, and all of the self-indulgence associated with that. Right?
Diana Tsui, senior market editor: Every dad I know — and they’re young dads in their mid-to-late 30s — are super into CrossFit, triathlon training, everything. They’re fighting the dadbod.
Molly Fischer, senior editor: Real dads fight the dadbod, whereas the young frat men of Clemson embrace it.
Ella Cerón, social media editor: Fratbod leads to dadbod, I feel. All those brews add up.
Stella Bugbee, editorial director: Is dadbod a laxbro after he gives up lacrosse?
Molly: Dadbod is when laxbro gets lax about lax.
Stella: Can we talk about dadbod sex?
Allison: My friend has a theory that men with dadbods and doughier tummy areas are good at sex — better, even — than, say, a ripped-abbed man, because their guts push against your pubic bone in a pleasing way. I also think dadbods might be more enthusiastic oral-sex-givers. Perhaps to compensate for their lack of abs.
Emily Shornick, photo editor: What’s great about dadbod sex is that you know you’re gonna have great postcoital snacks. Dadbod definitely has some cheese in the fridge.
Ella: I’ve always found the dadbods I’ve been with pass judgement on my eating habits — probably because they project. Like, they have always been the most enthusiastic about me eating a salad.
Isabel: Dadbods want to date skinny girls?
Leah Rodriguez, producer: Yeah.
Ella: YES.
Ashley Weatherford, associate beauty editor: I dated a dadbod in college, and he told me I needed to work out.
Molly: Dadbod as outer manifestation of his sense of entitlement??? DADBOD = PRIVILEGE???
Isabel: Dadbod = power, privilege, smugness.
Molly: Plus vast, slick sex torso.
Allison: No! Dadbod = comfort, pizza, better sex.
Emily: I can’t stop thinking about how offended I would be if men were talking about the “Mombod.”