Thrift and book stores are being occupied by wired headphone wearing, matcha drinking, and baggy pants wearing males, with Juna by Clairo as their theme song. The title bestowed upon these men: Performative Male, is a term overtaking social media.
What does the typical “Performative Male” look like? When looking this term up on social media, it is often met with a man in a background of either books or nature, with matcha in his hands, and an outfit often repeated with the same base layers in different colors. Oftentimes, on TikTok the hashtag is met with female creators like Faye Webster, Beebadoobee, and Laufey. The performative men are seen as performing for the attention of women. Attempting to get the attention from women with more of a feminine lifestyle and personality.
San Francisco embraced the performative male takeover Aug.22 with a “Performative Male Contest” with approximately 40 men performing for the next round. During this contest, at every turn a man with wired headphones, Clairo playing, and matcha in hand could be seen; but, not all see this title as fun and entertaining.
Some have been offended by this title due to this trend being their genuine style, drink of choice, or even favorite artist. Paso Robles High School has many students considered to be a performative male, but are these PRHS students performative or are they just victims of this title?
“I am not performative because I am doing me,” sophomore Jayden Cintrone, said in regards to the label, feeling as though the label itself was offensive. He described the nature of being performative, “When people think of performative they don't think "oh that guys cool,” feeling as though the label has now become an insult.
The components of an average performative male are also difficult to apply to one due to the fact that while one male might like matcha to be performative, another one might genuinely enjoy matcha. Although Cintrone dislikes matcha he does enjoy boba tea, but not to impress others or for a trend,: “Anybody can drink matcha, or wear wired headphones.” This aspect of the trend has made enjoying the things they truly do questioned by others.
When asked about how he felt about the lifestyle aspects of being performative, he explained that drinking matcha or using wired headphones isn't what makes them performative. Cintrone explained, “You can look at someone and see how they dress, but if you get to know them, then that's how you really know if they're performative,” making his definition of performative loose.
Using Pinterest, sophomore Colton Packer, is often called performative due to his outfits. He finds many of his clothes at thrift stores, specifically Thrifty Beaches in San Luis Obispo. Using the pieces he finds from these stores to create the outfits others believe to be performative. The term used to describe him left Packer feeling “sad and confused” due to the association he has with the word. Packer feels as though fashion isn't a label, but more so a form of self expression.
He described performative males as, “Someone who does the most just to get a girl, performative means someone who performs,” making him not performative. Because of this definition, he feels as though he is not performative, just a sucker to the label, “The idea? No. Maybe the style.”
Other than the stylistic choices of the “Performative Male” trend, he considers the matcha and wired headphone aspect a positive one. Like Cintrone, Packer believes “I dress for myself, I enjoy looking or at least feeling appropriate for the situation.”
Other than the stylistic choices of the “Performative Male” trend, he considers the matcha and wired headphone aspect a positive one. Like Cintrone, Packer believes “I dress for myself, I enjoy looking or at least feeling appropriate for the situation.”
Senior Jeremiah Bennett had similar ideas to the other two with his description of performative males following the prior stereotypes, “Reading feminine literature, drinking matcha, and using tote bags.” Clearly the matcha is a staple accessory to this trend, recognized by many. However he mentioned something the other two had not mentioned before: feminine literature.
At the San Francisco contest many men were seen carrying feminine literature. The thought is that a performative man performs for a female, making reading the literature attractive to females. Within this performance Bennett, much unlike the previous two, described performance more so for its characteristics. He does not feel offended by the term: believing it to be funny because he is not truly performative. Bennet used to use pinterest to put together his outfits and now he creates on his own. The outfits created, however, are not to perform for others, “I dress for myself, I like what I wear,” Bennett concluded.
By Emerie Reynoso