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Have you been ‘Shrekked?’ Shrink reveals all of Gen Z’s ‘not nice’ dating trends

Read the original at New York Post ↗
Cite

Erickson, J. (2026, October 4). Have you been ‘Shrekked?’ Shrink reveals all of Gen Z’s ‘not nice’ dating trends. New York Post. https://nypost.com/2026/10/03/lifestyle/gen-zs-dating-trends-revealed-shrink-details-the-ugly-truth/

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

New York Post · collected 2026-10-04 · by Jeanne Erickson

Quick Summary

Dr. Orion Taraban, a relationship psychologist, discusses various dating trends among Generation Z with The Post, highlighting practices such as Shrekking (dating less attractive partners), Frankensteining (trying to change a partner's attributes), and Clear Coding (arriving at dates with specific criteria). He notes that while many of these trends are detrimental, women are increasingly seeking more stable relationships rather than focusing on finding wealthy or successful men. Taraban also mentions the trend of reduced sexual activity among young people, with about one-third of men and one-sixth of women under 30 reporting no sex in a given year.
Written by AI on 2026-10-04, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Gen Z dating trends are criticized by relationship psychologist Dr. Orion Taraban for being "not nice," including practices like Shrekking, where individuals date someone less attractive to them in hopes of gaining appreciation, and Frankensteining, attempting to change a partner’s appearance or personality to meet desired standards. Another trend is Clear Coding or Dating with Intention, where daters come prepared with checklists of traits they desire, leading to minimal chances for follow-up dates. Taraban also notes that young women often prioritize expensive and luxurious first dates over casual outings like coffee or walks, reflecting high expectations and materialism in their dating habits.

Written for “Gen Z Dating Trends” on 2026-11-04, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Gen Z Dating Trends
Entertainment · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

Nothing to compare against. No article is close enough to this one for the pipeline to have linked or judged the pair.
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
27
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 27 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
66/100
New York Post's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Entertainment
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-04 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

New York Post · 16932 article(s) · 36 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 36 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Jeanne Erickson
26 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
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Also by Jeanne Erickson
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 26 articles by Jeanne Erickson →

Topics

Friendfluence The Post Zoomer Zoomers

Subjects

Taraban PERSON · 8× Friendfluence ORG · 1× Orion Taraban PERSON · 1× The Post ORG · 1× Zoomer ORG · 1× Zoomers NORP · 1×

Narrative

A Zoomer’s quest for romance is tangled up in sky-high expectations, wallet-busting dates, scarce sex and enough ridiculous dating lingo to require its own dictionary, a relationship psychologist told The Post.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-04
🔮 “Like the game musical chairs, they’ll find out the song will stop and be forced to sit down.”

Claims (27 extracted, 0 hedged)

A Zoomer’s quest for romance is tangled up in sky-high expectations, wallet-busting dates, scarce sex and enough ridiculous dating lingo to require its own dictionary, a relationship psychologist told The Post. asserted
psychologist → tangle → Post
“But most of it is just something recycled with a new label,” said Dr. Orion Taraban, who decodes relationship head games on his popular YouTube show “PsychHacks.” asserted
who → recycle → show
Shrekking means dating someone you consider less attractive because they’ll appreciate you more. asserted
they → mean → you
“Not nice,” said Taraban. asserted
Taraban → say → ?
“He’ll be kicked to the curb when she finds something better. asserted
she → kick → something
Yet, the No. 1 question I get from women is, ‘How can I get married?'” asserted
I → get → women
Frankensteining is an attempt to mold a romantic partner’s looks or personality to bring them up to desired standards. asserted
Frankensteining → mold → standards
“Never works, forget it,” advised the doc. asserted
doc → work → it
Then there’s Clear Coding, where a person shows up on the first date with a checklist of desired traits, which is also called Dating with Intention. asserted
which → ’ → Intention
“It’s mostly women who do this,” Taraban claimed. asserted
Taraban → ’ → this
“Women aren’t going to get dressed, put on makeup, take an expensive taxi or drive to meet a guy for a walk or to split a coffee,” said Taraban. asserted
Taraban → go → coffee
Turns out zoomy gals are out to bag an older, more successful and wealthier man. asserted
gals → turn → man
“About 85% of women on apps are dating 15% of men,” he said. asserted
he → date → men
“But they’ll find out that it only works out 1% of the time.” And the name game only gets worse. asserted
game → find → time
Friendfluence is bringing pals along to help assess the prospect. asserted
Friendfluence → bring → prospect
“The same thing as a double date,” laughed Taraban. asserted
Taraban → laugh → date
Benching means keeping a backup romantic option warm. asserted
Benching → bench → option
Wanderlove is vacation romance, which is known to lead to love because vacationers think they’ll never see this person again and can behave more like themselves. asserted
they → know → themselves
Wildflowering means tossing out the checklist and seeing what happens — which Taraban considers the healthiest approach. asserted
Taraban → mean → checklist
Body count because even modern males want to know the number of men their new lady has slept with. asserted
lady → want → men
“Ridiculous question,” said Taraban. asserted
Taraban → say → ?
“A woman’s going to lie.” A Situationship is a hazy, murky relationship that’s never really been formalized. asserted
that → go → ?
“Gen Z likes things more structured,” said the shrink. asserted
shrink → like → ?
Meanwhile, Zoomers are getting less action between the sheets. asserted
Zoomers → get → sheets
Taraban said roughly a third of men and a sixth of women under 30 report no sex in a given year. asserted
third → say → year
“Women are starting to realize they’re never going to land a rich, handsome guy, and the new question is: ‘How can I find a good man?'” said Taraban. asserted
Taraban → start → man
“Like the game musical chairs, they’ll find out the song will stop and be forced to sit down.” asserted
song → find → chairs
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