EMMA PIRHALA / MANAGING EDITOR

Once upon a time, in a kingdom plagued by emotionally unavailable royalty, there was a radiant princess. She was everything that a princess should be: warm-hearted, graceful and, unfortunately, endlessly forgiving of red flags. She had her fair share of princes coming to her tower. Until one day, she met a new suitor. Sure he wasn’t as handsome as she was beautiful, but she loved anyways, foolishly mistaking bare minimum kindness for happily ever after. 

Then one fateful day, the princess’s lover declared that his love had vanished. She finally saw her “prince charming” for what he really was: not a beast to be tamed, nor a prince to be kissed, but an ogre in an emotional disguise. And so, she was “shrekked.”

This is a tale as old as time, the term — shrekked — not so much. Popularized  on TikTok, “shrekking” is a dating phenomenon in which people, women in particular, date a less attractive person to receive the “princess treatment.” And then suddenly, the ugly half of the couple flips a switch and dumps the hot one. Dating coach Amy Chan described this experience in an interview with USA Today. 

“In this plotline, you’re dating an ogre without the princess treatment,” Chan said. “Plenty of people have put looks lower on the list or hoped attraction would grow over time, and that in itself isn’t a bad thing. Where it backfires is when someone assumes that just because they’re dating ‘down’ in looks, they’ll automatically be treated better.”

Even on our magical campus, USD students are no stranger to getting shrekked. USD junior Miranda Gonzalez hasn’t personally been shrekked, but has known others who have. 

“I think you should never forget your worth because when an ugly guy gets a pretty girl, suddenly he’s worth more,” Gonzalez said. “When in reality he’s still ugly so then he starts gaining more confidence and thinks he can cheat on you or something but you should always either humble him or dump him when he starts doing that.”

Despite the risk of getting shrekked, some Toreros still think that looks aren’t all that matters when it comes to finding a potential suitor.

USD senior Elena Williams  shared that   she looks for more than looks.

“I really look for someone who can make me laugh and someone who can support me,” Williams said.  

Although getting shrekked may  sound  monstrous, Toreros  still look for their happily ever after — even if it is an ogre.

Graphic of Shrek holding roses surrounded by broken hearts. Alissa Abramovich/The USD Vista