Spotted on the Mall: male dressed in cargo pants with a carabiner fixed to his belt loop. On his shoulder, a tote bag with the name of a local bookstore (let’s hope there’s a novel by Sally Rooney or “A Little Life” by Hanya Yanagihara in there). In hand, a matcha, with string ear buds snaked around the cup, probably blasting Lana Del Ray or Clairo. Bonus points if there is a Labubu incorporated into the outfit. Beneath the performative shell lies something more complex.  

The performative male archetype has been taking the internet by storm among the Gen Z population and has been stirring some thoughts across various groups. Some see it as a “scoffed-at meme” according to The New York Times, while others, as NPR state, could see it as an ode to “childhood nostalgia.” Ultimately, the critique lies in whether this heavily adopted persona is genuine, or as the name implies, performative.  

Arguments for this archetype being ingenuine and leaning toward a performative nature are amplified by social media. According to The New York Times, “everything, to a large degree, is a performance.” How we present ourselves in the day-to-day can hold inherent intentions of how one wants to be seen. This becomes a significant contributor to the performative male because of the way physical appearance can signify how one may lean. Maybe the man spotted on the mall wasn’t dressing to draw attention to their extensive knowledge on feminist literature or matcha, but rather to fit the mold of what one could see as a softer, more approachable figure.  

With strong noise coming from social media and opinions from various generations, the performative male persona bridges expression and intention into something ambiguous. The combination of music taste, drink preference and literary genre doesn’t inherently determine whether something is performative or not. It is further contextualized by environmental, societal and cultural views, which bring the performative aspect into relevance.