“Text him ‘come over’ and don’t reply.” “Manipulation is necessary to come out a winner in the dating world.” “Never show a man you like him, just let him do the work.” During an idle scroll through TikTok, these nuggets of dating advice flash before my eyes, often superimposed onto images of aloof, glamorous women. Have I landed upon the female version of Andrew Tate’s Hustler’s University? Not quite.

My social media algorithm has, it turns out, inducted me into the world of femme fatale coaches, who dish out advice on how to channel your “dark feminine energy” in order to make a man “obsessed” with you.

Archive video clips of Angelina Jolie and Megan Fox tossing their hair proliferate under the #femmefatale hashtag, which has notched up 2.1 billion views to date (#darkfeminineenergy, meanwhile, has just shy of 800 million views). Lana del Rey is, inevitably, the go-to soundtrack, and there are plenty of tutorials on the best way to use your “siren gaze” (which involves narrowing your eyes, raising your brows and opening your mouth ever so slightly) to attract attention and inspire instant devotion. If your interest is truly piqued, you can graduate to a paid e-book or course (because if it’s online, it’s safe to assume that someone has monetised it). 

Embracing the “dark feminine”, it seems, is all about championing the shadowy, less socially acceptable side of the self – and learning how to use that to your advantage, particularly when it comes to romance.