FACT CHECK (August 2025):
The viral declare circulating throughout social media that “50% of girls have a backup accomplice” shouldn’t be based mostly on any new analysis. In actuality, the story traces again to 2014, when British polling firm OnePoll allegedly carried out a survey of 1,000 ladies within the UK. Eleven years later, there may be nonetheless no file of the examine’s methodology or dataset. The one proof comes from a collection of sensational articles in shops equivalent to CBS Information, the Each day Mail UK, and Philadelphia Journal—all of which cite one another, not the unique analysis.
The declare in 2025:
Credit score/Hyperlink: femcoreofficial Instagram / https://www.instagram.com/p/DNV0Y32xQkX/?igsh=aTR1OXAwenBuaTI0
The truth:
- No peer-reviewed examine exists.
- The ballot, if it occurred, was restricted to 1,000 ladies within the UK.
- Extrapolating these outcomes to assert “half of all ladies” is each false and defamatory.
- The story is being recycled in 2025 with none new findings, fueling controversy with out context.
The Origins of the Declare
In 2014, OnePoll’s so-called “examine” steered that half of girls stored a “Plan B”—a backup man ready in case their present relationship failed. Married ladies, the survey claimed, have been much more prone to have a fallback accomplice than those that have been courting.
The protection learn like tabloid scandal disguised as science. CBS reported that backups have been often “outdated pals” identified for about seven years, generally exes or coworkers. The Each day Mail went additional, claiming 12% of girls felt extra strongly about their backup than about their present accomplice, and that just about 70% have been nonetheless involved with him. Philadelphia Journal added a snarky twist, marveling at the concept that some ladies believed their Plan B would “drop every little thing” if referred to as upon.
It was juicy, salacious—and statistically meaningless.
The 2025 Revival
Eleven years later, the identical narrative has resurfaced throughout Threads, X, Fb, Reddit, Instagram, and YouTube. The recycled declare now masquerades as new analysis, regardless of the absence of recent information. Posts body the story as if it displays common reality, with some even suggesting “half of girls are dishonest or planning to cheat.”
That is misinformation by omission. By leaving out the context—that the declare comes from an outdated, unverified, and unreplicated ballot—at the moment’s viral posts gas gendered mistrust and backlash.
Why It Issues
At its core, the “backup accomplice” narrative shouldn’t be innocent gossip. It perpetuates dangerous stereotypes: that ladies are inherently duplicitous, emotionally untrue, or continually searching for higher choices. In the meantime, males are framed as unsuspecting victims. The scandal isn’t shaky information—it’s the way in which misinformation, as soon as planted, is weaponized to pit genders in opposition to one another.
What we’re witnessing in 2025 shouldn’t be revelation however repetition: a recycling of outdated, unverified sensationalism. The unique ballot was questionable; at the moment’s viral posts are worse, stripping away even the flimsy particulars and presenting hypothesis as reality.
The Backside Line
There isn’t a credible scientific proof proving that half of girls hold a “backup man.” What exists is an eleven-year-old, unverified ballot of 1,000 UK ladies—magnified into a world scandal via repetition and clickbait.
The true story isn’t that ladies are secretly sustaining backup lovers. The true story is how shortly misinformation ages into “reality” when left unchallenged.
Credit score/Hyperlink: Egoitz Bengoetxea Iguaran/disloyal-girl-looking-to-another-boy.jpg)
