If you have seen the ‘pick me’ and ‘performative male’ collaboration, you have reached the depths of social media. If you don’t know what that line means, you have come to the right place. There’s a new trend on social media, a tote-bag carrying, jewellery-wearing person, with only one goal – portraying himself as someone he might not be.
From baggy jeans, dangling belt loops, and an overriding need to have an edgy music taste, that’s a performative male in the world. Not a means to shame personal choices, but as per J’Nae Phillips, the creator of the Fashion Tingz newsletter, “A performative male is less about who someone is than about how they curate and project masculinity in public – usually online. He is someone acutely aware that manhood is being watched, assessed, and consumed, and so he stages it.”
TikTok trend or Gen Z archetype?
While social media has been filled with such content now, the netizens have been divided on how to categorise it. Whether to call it satire or an attempt at alluring women with claims of being a feminist. Overall, the trend of being a performative male comes from a much older concept, such as the poser of the 90s. Dr Ashley Morgan, a masculinities expert at Cardiff Metropolitan University, said that this trend came from men showing off fast cars to impress other men. Unlike popular belief, this modern version was looking towards inclusivity, a Guardian report cited. Morgan actually found this to be positive, making room for an alternate take on masculinity.
Ironically, it also contradicts to the conventional need for women to portray themselves as docile and feminine to attract the attention of an orthodox man. However, the Vivienne Westwood chrome hearts, ukulele strums, and matcha drinking aesthetic is no more a social media trend.
Social media’s take on the trend
Users on social media are sharing photos of themselves doing the most regular things, such as reading a book while having breakfast, and calling it a performative male trend on social media. “The performative male is a cultural low, not because of what the male does, but because of the reading, and the reading is that we can no longer have activities that are not mediated by our understanding of performance,” read a post on X (formerly Twitter). This trend has seeped into society so much so that the Internet is questioning all males, even reading a book. “‘Women get accused of being ‘pick-me girls’ and now men are labeled ‘performative males.’ Should we just embrace this new-age masculine attitude?,” questioned another piece on the Internet.
The multi-faceted concept relies heavily on homophobia and the orthodox definition of masculinity, as the “performative male” is laced with performed sensitivity. More than a false public portrayal, this trend also comes just months after the “trad wife” aesthetic was made popular, emphasising the hyper-stylised existence of femininity. In the same backdrop, not only does this trend seem counterintuitive, but it also opposes the hyper-awareness of gender normative themes.