On a first date with a guy in New York City, I tell him I talk to trees. He laughs, already perceiving me as a weirdo. I go on and tell him I have visions, can feel energy, and am a bit psychic. I know I sound insane, but it’s because I am. He changes the topic, obviously not aligning with my feminine urge to yap about the transcendental. Unfortunately for him, I never saw him again because I spontaneously moved to Dubai based on a vision I had. When I have my visions, it’s a knowing, an utter confidence that I will bring the dream to fruition.
I am not alone in being delulu, the internet’s favourite word, which is short for delusional, is used to describe the act of manifesting, believing in yourself against all odds, or simply having the audacity to want more than what you’ve been told you deserve. This viral TikTok quote says it best: “Delulu is the solulu.” And whilst it’s funny internet discourse, women claiming their delusions are also profoundly feminist.
The vilification of women’s intuition
Women losing their minds or being told they’ve lost their minds is nothing new. Feminist literature is littered with ‘mad women’ from The Awakening by Kate Chopin to Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper. The common story of women descending into insanity was a mirror to the societal conditions from which the women’s rights movement was emerging, a reflection of what happens when women are silenced, controlled, and denied autonomy.
Historically, it’s been disturbingly easy to label women as insane. Hysteria, a diagnosis rooted in the belief that women’s emotional and physical symptoms were biologically predisposed to mental and behavioral issues, was often associated with women who didn’t conform. Sadness? Hysteria. Anger? Hysteria. Sexual desire? Definitely hysteria. Women were institutionalised, lobotomised, and medicated for daring to feel too much, want too much, or think too independently. Even today, women are dismissed as “PMSing,” “emotional,” or “crazy” when they express anger, intuition, or confidence that threatens the status quo.
@zachsangshow @Julia fox wants people to be more delusional #juliafox #delusional #delulu #advice #zachsangshow #zachsang #fyp #foryou @Amazon Music @Zach Sang ♬ original sound – Zach Sang Show
Delulu as resistance
Today, we have Julia Fox, musician BANKS, and Muslim content creator Syafiqa all normalising delulu behaviour. The modern woman who trusts her intuition, who knows things without needing to explain them, who operates on a divine feminine instinct rather than logic and reason exclusively, is still labelled unhinged, delusional, and too much.
This isn’t about toxic positivity or ignoring reality. It’s about exorcising self-doubt in a world that conditions women to be insecure, to second-guess themselves, and to shrink. We live in a society that profits off female insecurity. Through the male gaze, women are deemed not thin enough, not pretty enough, not successful enough, and not respectable enough. We’re taught to apologise in every breath we take, that emotional intelligence is an afterthought, to accept lower wages than our male counterparts, and to question our instincts.
On TikTok, women aren’t just claiming their own craze, they’re actively supporting each other by hyping up friends’ “unrealistic” dreams and celebrating every audacious belief with comments like “yes queen, stay delulu”.
@saraelham Replying to @Nylah I want this to be our motto ♥️✨ Delusion = tawakkul #tawakkul #delulu #trustallah #delusional #muslimmindset #thepowerofdua #muslimreminders #muslimtiktok #islamicreminder ♬ original sound – Sara Elham
The power of belief
Whether you call it manifesting, quantum leaping, following intuition, being delusional, or making a dua, it’s all semantics. What matters is that women are choosing to believe in themselves in a world designed to make them doubt. The patriarchy has always been threatened by women who trust themselves because a woman who knows her worth, who moves with conviction, who doesn’t need anyone’s approval, is impossible to control. This generation of delusional women are so insane, they’re going to get everything they want. Of course, the patriarchy has something to fear.
Now, from one delulu to another delulu hopefully, go be free and wield your ambitions to truth bestie.