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Do you remember a year or so ago when everybody on the Internet suddenly started talking about normcore? Well, it’s happening again! Except this time, it’s women talking about your body like you may not have heard it talked about before (and it might make you feel differently about your own). It’s the dawn of “dad bod.” The real (yet mostly made up) term was thrown out of obscurity in the past two days by The Odyssey_ and The Cut. _So what the not-so-in-shape-butt is it?

According to Mackenzie Pearson, who wrote the original piece for The Odyssey, “The dad bod is a nice balance between a beer gut and working out. The dad bod says, ‘I go to the gym occasionally, but I also drink heavily on the weekends and enjoy eating eight slices of pizza at a time.’ ” Hmm, that sounds like a lot of guys we know. And apparently, women are very into it. Pearson believes that the dad bod makes guys seem more “human, natural, and attractive.” That lackadaisical approach to fitness comes off as less intimidating, allows for better cuddling, and presumably better food, she writes. All fair points, but then there’s the bedroom. Where you get naked and sometimes regret the extra slice.

But that’s just your nerves talking. Allison Davis of The Cut shared a theory one of her friends swears by about dad bod sex. Said friend believes that it’s ideal because the accompanying gut will “push against your pubic bone in a pleasing way.” In theory, a lot of guys are working out to be more attractive, to attract potential mates, to have more sex. But what if the best sex is actually gut-brushing-against-pubic-bone sex? DROP THE WEIGHTS, unless you’ve already got a dad bod, of course.

How can you tell? Well, if you can’t see your dick with your shirt off, you’ve probably got a prize-winning dad bod (maybe approaching an unhealthy dad bod). If you have a casual approach to exercise, by which I mean you work out fairly regularly but will never deny yourself a pizza in the name of fitness, you’ve probably got it. Pearson boils it down to this: “It’s not an overweight guy, but it isn’t one with washboard abs, either.” Technically you’re in okay health, but you’re too busy to get all fitness model.

So if you’ve got a dad bod, should you shame yourself? Should you transform your entire life to become that dude who hits the beach with a tuned-up CrossFitted body? Fuck, no. One, there are apparently plenty of women who find you and your gut pretty sexy as it is, and hopefully they’re into you for something a little beyond your looks. If you’re an actual dad, then you have literally nobody to answer to when it comes to not being shredded. Who’s going to criticize a man who can’t find time to hit the gym obsessively and raise a child at the same time? A TERRORIST. As long as you’re not taking dad bod to Depardieu territory, you’re golden. No shame in having a dad bod or being comfortable in your own skin.

Dads fucking rule.

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