# Binders full of women

> Romney's debate phrase spawned a Tumblr with over 200 image macros in a day.

- Owner: null
- Kind: Meme & format
- Sector: Politics & civic
- Seed date: 2012-10-16
- Peak proxy date: 2012-10-16
- Date basis: Proxy date; not a directly measured attention peak.
- Spread Score: 41 (Notable, provisional), v1.3
- Mechanics: Catchphrase, Response chain, Platform jump, Press loop, Controversy

## Summary

Romney's debate answer became a phrase for Twitter parodies, Tumblr images and Facebook pages. The Obama campaign bought a promoted tweet. Amazon reviews, an airline promotion and Halloween costumes carried the joke beyond political posts.

## Timeline

- 2012-10-16 — Mitt Romney (TV) — Romney said women's groups brought him 'whole binders full of women' while answering a pay-equity question.
- 2012-10-16 — Veronica De Souza (Open web) — De Souza reposted a 'Trap Her Keep Her' image at 9:48 p.m. and credited Brendan Tobin.
- 2012-10-16 — Twitter parody accounts (X) — Parody accounts attracted over 30,000 and 12,000 followers respectively before the debate ended.

The full timeline, metrics and sources are on the case page, or via the Pro API (https://howitspread.com/developers).

Canonical URL: https://howitspread.com/cases/binders-full-of-women

Cite as: How It Spread (2026). “Binders full of women.” Case HIS-01564. Spread Score v1.3: 41/100. Updated 2026-10-23. https://howitspread.com/id/HIS-01564