This July, a new species of man came to the limelight — the “performative” male. 

The performative male, a brand new social media trend and archetype, curates his image by appealing to feminine interests in an attempt to attract attention from women. They’re known for owning vinyl records, flaunting feminist literature and wearing baggy-cut jeans in coffee shops. 

Senior Evan Hong believes a performative male refers to a man who owns Labubus and enjoys matcha. He believes a performative male is prevalent in more affluent areas, like the Bay Area and Cupertino. Hong’s thoughts on the performative male relate to the stereotypes he’s seen online — what he describes as “a male who dresses differently than most people and has hobbies that are slightly different than what is considered mainstream.” 

However, these previously underground, seemingly niche interests have now exploded in popularity, and on Google Trends, interest in the word “performative” has risen to 100 in the past month. Many people now embrace the trends that come with the stereotype, like wearing washed jeans and carabiners. One self-identified member of this community is junior Jake Tong, as he feels like he checks many of these boxes unintentionally.

“People say we’re performative, but we’re not even trying to be,” Tong said. “I don’t think I’m that performative. People just call everything I do performative so nowadays, I feel like that word kind of has lost its meaning. People just say it to say it — like a buzzword.”

Tong believes that people are judging so-called performative men simply because there are so many videos on social media stereotyping men with certain niche interests as inauthentic. Interests that align with the “starter-pack” are labeled “performative.” 

As part of Gen Z herself, English teacher Isabella Arndt notices the trends that develop on social media platforms. She finds it intriguing how this trend has brought along and popularized the notion that identity can be performed.

“It’s really funny and interesting to see what people consider performative,” Arndt said. “For some people, it’s just their personality and who they are, and I like that. It questions the authenticity of who is a genuine person, or if they’re just pretending to do or enjoy something.”

Hong ironically embraced this disingenuous identity after losing his Fantasy Football League. He took on the lighthearted punishment of becoming a performative male for 30 days, reposting performative reels for a month straight and writing a book report on feminist literature. 

However, Hong mentions that not all attention is positive and that criticism of the performative male is just as, if not more, rampant than those who embrace the archetype. Certain users online think being performative shows a lack of manliness, and it’s expected for men to hide their feelings and interests. Multiple men have found themselves stuck in the crossfire, such as Tong and Hong. Hong especially faced hate for his 30-day challenge, and believes that it is partially a result of what society believes about masculinity.

“People tend to believe that you aren’t at an equal level to whatever they think that a man should be,” Hong said. “Someone who’s into sports, someone who’s very manly, someone who stands up and suppresses their feelings and emotions and only thinks about surface-level opinions.”

Hong attributes some of the pushback against performative men to the history of gender roles in the United States. He believes that men tend to have a more widely accepted identity and as a result, feel restricted to conform to it. 

Arndt somewhat agrees with Hong’s perspective. However, she believes men are penetrating spaces that women opened in an attempt to reestablish themselves in a culture they don’t necessarily belong to. These spaces, which Arndt believes are focused on embracing femininity, were used to not only subvert the patriarchy, but also to subvert a more recent stereotype that feminist women reject femininity itself. 

“That’s why a lot of men can be performative — because women have opened this opportunity,” Arndt said. “We have opened this area of, ‘I’m going through shopping, I like matcha, I like doing all these things,’ and it’s very feminine. Girls want to be in that femininity, and that is so important, because we’ve totally lost that part of our culture at one point. And now that we’ve found it again, men need to find a place inside of it.”

Tong agrees, stating that while he enjoys taking part in new fashion trends, acting as if one stands for these feminist beliefs for others to notice them — such as flaunting feminist buzzwords — purely in an attempt to “farm engagement” from others shouldn’t be a behavior that is normalized. He specifically mentions feminist literature and how pretending to read can actually hold back the feminist movement, as performative men are still focused on winning women over, just catering to their interests in the process.

Similar to Tong, Arndt believes that performativeness, while seemingly promoting positive ideals such as feminism and more progressive notions of male identity, is a manifestation of certain men who disingenuously involve themselves in an attempt to reclaim influence over women.

“Being a performative male is about having women be interested in you, who are interested in the same things as them,” Arndt said. “I can tell you right now that half the guys were probably laughing at Labubus at one point, and now that every girl wants a Labubu, they’re buying it. Why?”

However, Arndt qualifies her statement by saying that there can simultaneously be positives about this trend. She says “to perform, you need to know how to act,” and even the most performative need to know what they’re talking about even if they don’t necessarily believe it or put in effort. Growing up as a teen in a time when “Red Pill” culture ran rampant on the Internet, Arndt remembers the rise of the Paul brothers — including Logan Paul’s infamous “suicide forest” video — as well as “a whole generation of men” talking down on women. Thus, she believes that this new trend can inspire people for the better — if only they take in the values they perform. 

“It still involves having to do the research, but the problem is if they don’t truly believe in what they’re reading,” Arndt said. “The point of being a feminist is equality for everyone, and if you don’t believe in that ideology, you’re kind of smashing on it.”