This is the “orange peel theory”,which holds that the little acts of thoughtfulness partners do for us,especially those that pose an inconvenience,serve as irrefutable confirmation that they care.
When Brenda Garcia of Victoria,Texas,got wind of the trend,her mind immediately went to other kind acts that her partner does for her. She thought about the way,after cooking dinner,she often rests instead of immediately putting away the leftovers. But by the time she remembers to pack them away,her partner has often already done so.
“He could easily be like,‘Oh,well,this is your food’ because I’m a vegetarian,so our meals are always different,” Garcia,27,says. “But he goes out of his way and does it anyway.”
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If she neglects to take a towel with her to the shower,he will sometimes bring one without her asking,knowing that she has a tendency to forget. And to reciprocate,she will do things like deep-clean their shared home or massage his shoulders after a long day.
On TikTok,#orangepeeltheory videos show users sharing the particular ways their partners are passing or failing “the test”. One woman proudly shared that her partner always cracks open her crab legs and takes the shells off,something she struggles to do herself. Another woman recalled a time her husband wiped all the salt off her chips after she complained about the taste.
Although relationship content on TikTok has a tendency to be oversimplified and sexist,the orange peel theory isn’t inherently dubious or novel. (A related idea,the so-called bird test,is similarly making the rounds on social media.) It just reinforces an age-old notion of relationships that just because you can do something for yourself doesn’t mean you should have to.