Wokefishing
Etymology
Coined by journalist Serena Smith in a 2020 article for VICE, on the model of catfishing: pretending to hold “woke,” progressive values to appeal to a date, then dropping the act once the relationship is underway.
noun · /WOHK-fish-ing/
Feigning progressive political values to attract a partner who cares about them.
What it names
It names a specific bait-and-switch in dating: performing beliefs about race, gender, or climate to seem attractive, then revealing you never held them. It captures how political identity has become part of the dating market.
Example
He quoted feminist theory on the first date and by the third was mocking it — she’d been wokefished.
Related idea
Like catfishing, it’s a bait-and-switch — but what’s faked is not identity or looks, it’s a set of political values.