Wokefishing
- “pretending to share my values just to date me”
- “they acted progressive until we were together, then changed”
- “the word for faking your politics to attract someone”
- “when someone hides their real beliefs while dating”
:: COMPARE ::
WokefishingvsCatfishing
The short answer
A catfish invents a whole identity — often using someone else's photos — for a person who does not exist as shown. A wokefish is a real person, genuinely who they appear to be, faking only their values in order to attract you.
Side by side
| Aspect | Wokefishing | Catfishing |
|---|---|---|
| Their identity | Real | Fabricated |
| What's faked | Beliefs and values | Face, name, whole life |
| Will they meet you? | Yes | Usually avoids it |
| How it surfaces | Slowly, in remarks | On meeting — or never |
Which one you meant
Readers who land here meaning Wokefishing rather than Catfishing are usually searching for phrases like “pretending to share my values just to date me”, “they acted progressive until we were together, then changed”, “the word for faking your politics to attract someone”.
Catfishing
- “how to tell if someone is catfishing me”
- “the word for a fake online identity”
- “someone used fake photos to date me”
- “where does the word catfishing come from”
Which came first
Catfishing. 2010 — The documentary Catfish gives the deception sense its name; the film's closing anecdote about a catfish shipped among cod supplies the metaphor.
- 2010CatfishingThe documentary Catfish gives the deception sense its name; the film's closing anecdote about a catfish shipped among cod supplies the metaphor.
- 2020WokefishingCoined by journalist Serena Smith at Vice, amid a period of heightened social-justice activism.
Read either one in full