Mankeeping
What does Mankeeping mean?
Mankeeping is a term for the often unreciprocated emotional and social support work that women provide to manage the needs of men in their lives, especially romantic partners.
Mankeeping used in a sentence
“She realized she was mankeeping when she had to remind her boyfriend to text his own best friend happy birthday.”
This example shows the term in context rather than treating the definition as a literal word-for-word substitution. Slang often depends on tone, audience, and the conversation around it.
How do you use Mankeeping?
Mankeeping describes tasks such as being a man's main emotional outlet, organizing his social life, and helping him maintain friendships. It is most often used about heterosexual relationships but can extend to family and workplace dynamics. The term is adult relationship language rather than Gen Alpha slang, and researchers frame it as a pattern linked to men's limited support networks, not a personal insult.
Where did Mankeeping come from?
Stanford sociologist Angelica Ferrara coined the term in 2024, and she and research assistant Dylan Vergara developed it in a peer-reviewed paper in Psychology of Men and Masculinities. The name echoes 'kinkeeping,' a sociological term from 1985 for the often invisible work of keeping families connected. Mankeeping went viral in 2025 as social media users applied it to their own relationships.
Common variations of Mankeeping
mankeep
A back-formed verb meaning to do mankeeping work.
Mankeeping: frequently asked questions
Who coined mankeeping?
Stanford sociologist Angelica Ferrara introduced it in research published with Dylan Vergara.
Is mankeeping only about romantic partners?
Romantic relationships are the most common example, but the concept can also apply to fathers, brothers, friends, or coworkers.