Why Do Men Say They Want To Bleed Out In Serene Snowy Places? Film-Inspired Masculine Urge Explained

Ah, a serene snowy street lit dimly by warm orange street lamps. Snow falls slowly, forming a crisp carpet under your feet. A perfect place for a romantic walk, some reflection and, according to some, slowly bleeding out.

What's up with men saying they want to bleed out in peaceful solitude in a place like this? Let's dive deep into the meme and find out what actor Ryan Gosling has to do with it.

What Is ‘The Masculine Urge to Slowly Bleed Out Here'?

"The Masculine Urge to Slowly Bleed Out Here" is a catchphrase that has recently become a popular way of describing locations that look tranquil and offer solitude, especially those that are covered with snow.

Think of liminal spaces found outdoors: streets, parks and riverwalks that are usually filled with passersby but are momentarily empty because of the snowfall and the late hour.

Notably, the phrase "the masculine urge" (and also "the feminine urge") has been a meme since 2021, used together with often weird but oddly relatable things men (or women) get urges to do. To avoid therapy at all cost, for example.

Why Do Men Say They Want To "Bleed Out" In Serene Snowy Places?

It's important to understand that when people say that they want to bleed out in a tranquil place, they do not actually mean that they wish to die — the meaning is more spiritual, a way to connect to internet strangers who relate to the same cultural influences as they do, and by these "cultural influences," we mainly mean the king of "literally me" characters, Ryan Gosling.

You see, in the 2017 film Blade Runner 2049, a sequel to a 1982 cult classic, Gosling's character Officer K dies in exactly the way the memes are talking about — lying down on snowy steps and watching the snow fall as he succumbs to his wounds.

An iconic "literally me" character, Officer K is what the memes in which men dream of bleeding out in a serene spot are referencing. There are some other parallels that can be drawn, too.

In the finale of the 1998 anime series Cowboy Bebop protagonist Spike Spiegel collapses on empty stairs, his fate unknown, and in the 2018 game Detroit: Become Human one character can meet his end on a snowy promenade.

When Did The Memes About Slowly Bleeding Out Go Viral?

The joke was started by X user @deltaIV9250, who on October 6th, 2024, captioned a photograph of a snowy, streetlamp-lit promenade in Istanbul, Turkey, "The masculine urge to slowly bleed out here," and some 530,000 people liked the post.

From there on, the joke was repeated several times with other locations equally fit for bleeding out in peaceful solitude. The locations didn't have to be real, either. Imagine succumbing to your wounds somewhere next to the satellite dish from GoldenEye 007's Surface 1 mission. Dreamlike, majestic even.

For the full history of The Masculine Urge to Slowly Bleed Out Here, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.