Imagine a man studying at your local Starbucks, sporting a tote bag, reading feminist literature and drinking matcha. He wears wired earbuds to showcase his musical taste, featuring Clairo, Beabadoobee and other artists. 

A current trend of social media mocks these performative men, who copy their aesthetic and fake their ardor for the feminist movement to garner attention and romantic interests. In the spirit of light-hearted fun, the Asian Student Association held a performative male contest.

“When I was in fifth grade, everybody was trying to buy the Yeezy 500s. I think it’s an evolution of that. Just trying to keep up and stay trendy, but now it’s just taking a different form,” senior Santiago Vogt said.

Performative males are often associated with stereotypes because they deliberately choose an aesthetic designed to attract attention. Junior Isadora Dolan says it can be harmful to people already participating in borrowed cultures.

“They’re mocking certain cultures. A lot of performative male stereotypes play off of Asian stereotypes and Asian culture,” Dolan said.

Dolan admits that her music taste overlaps with music that performative males listen to, because some of the music she listens to is TikTok songs that rise to the top due to popularity.

“I think if you listen to performative [music], you’re not performative by immediate association,” Dolan said.

Vogt emphasizes that although someone can fit the stereotype through what they like or own, displaying their distinction for attention is what makes them performative. He holds a negative view on performative people.

“Go ahead and keep reading your feminist literature. No hate,” Vogt said. “But if you’re unauthentically doing it, you gotta put on [a] blindfold and do stuff because you want to do it, dress how you want to dress, even if it’s not the most popular.”

Dolan believes that performative males are popular today because of how many people’s descriptions can overlap with the performative male’s interests, including herself.

“It’s a pretty widespread concept because a lot of people do these things or listen to these people or dress a certain way, just by happenstance, and not because of the trend. And so it’s very applicable,” Dolan said.

Vogt shares a similar opinion, describing the finger-pointing that goes on whenever the topic is mentioned. He compares it to McCarthyism, a campaign that caused many citizens of the US to find and report communists.

“Everybody is claiming that everybody else is performative. It gets blurry and who is and who isn’t and who’s authentic and who’s not,” Vogt said. “They feel pressured to change who they are. So they find more ‘aesthetic’ or trendy clothes to put on. They start drinking drinks that they don’t have a liking [for].”

In the Asian Student Association’s performative male contest held on Nov. 24, four students competed to be the most performative. During the contest, participants dressed and acted performatively. A potluck took place alongside the contest, with matcha as a major attraction within it.

Like Vogt, participant senior Jonah Macanufo states that he is not performative because he does not display the props brought to the contest for clout. He describes dressing up for the contest as not fully true to himself, but also finds positive aspects of being performative.

“I think there [are] definitely issues with the patriarchy [in] our society today and how women are treated,” Macanufo said. “I think that’s something that can be taken from the performativeness.”

By a show of votes, junior Dwight Erdmann won the contest. Throughout the contest, Erdmann displayed his Laufey albums and spoke out for feminism. He views performative men positively because they raise awareness for feminism, even though it is a facade.

“It would be cool if, instead of being [a] performative male, you were just a male, and that’s just how men were in the future going forward – more thoughtful, sensitive and empathetic,” Erdmann said.