Troye Sivan has noticed that pop music’s imaginary asylum seems to have a suspiciously gendered admissions policy.

During an appearance on the Las Culturistas podcast, Sivan discussed the “Khia Asylum,” the internet’s ever-expanding purgatory for pop stars deemed unsuccessful, uncool, or simply not famous enough for stan culture’s liking. And according to Sivan, male artists rarely receive the same one-way ticket there.

“I think the whole Khia Asylum thing doesn’t get said about boys that much,' he said. "I think it’s a spectrum of how much people nitpick at you, and pop girls have it really bad."

For the non-chronically online, the Khia Asylum is not a real place, nor does rapper Khia have anything to do with running it. The meme grew out of stan culture’s use of the “My Neck, My Back” rapper’s name as shorthand for artists perceived as one-hit wonders or completely lacking hits altogether. The fictional institution has since become a running online joke, complete with imaginary inmates, parole hearings, escapes, and frequent arguments over who deserves incarceration.

Women including Zara Larsson and Lizzo have recently found themselves litigating their own supposed residency. Larsson, whose career resurgence sparked jokes about her “escaping” the asylum, has rejected the premise altogether. “I don’t like when people say that they’re a flop,” she said recently. “Don’t manifest it.”

“I’ve always known I’m a cool girl," she said. "I think my taste is good or fun, it’s my taste. I like what I do. I just need to express it to the world so they can understand. And now I feel like I have, and people connect with it because I’m just being true to myself. "

Lizzo has similarly challenged the internet’s sentencing guidelines, telling the Swiftologist, "I have Grammys and world record music. I have a #1 [single] and I have a Diamond record. I’m a successful artist. There should be a criteria."

The joke can be funny, but Sivan’s point gets at the machinery underneath it. Female pop stars are expected to produce hits while serving looks, choreography, compelling eras, and enough cultural relevance to keep the algorithm fed. Meanwhile, plenty of male artists are allowed to simply release music.

"The straight boys might talk s**t about you online, but either they don’t care or they don’t get it as bad," Sivan said. "I do think that straight boys can get away with releasing stuff that if a queer artist or a female artist released, they would get ripped to shreds.”

Sivan's next album, She’s the Best, arrives October 9. The Nicole Kidman-starring video for its title track has already kicked off the new era where he's paying tribute to the girls.

“She’s the Best is a painting that captures my life in all of its moods and colours,” Sivan said in a statement, expanding:

“It explores the high-octane highs of the last few years, and the solitude and longing that sat underneath. It’s chaotic, layered, organic, troubled and alive. It feels like the truest and most creative version of myself I’ve ever shared. At some point along the way I realised - the only constant in my life keeping me somewhat sane has not been the work, or the men, but the feminine. Thank god for them.”