#performative males

[thegodofpigeonsblog]

[ubiquitouscorn]

Okay (maybe?) HOT TAKE:

The whole 'performative male' trend is/was just terrible in so many ways. So the video mainly came in two forms, right? A) a skit where you had your matcha-drinking, Judith Butler-reading, Labubu-having guy being performative. This has it's own issues but I'll talk about that later. The main kinda videos I have a problem with (as is where i have a problem with the actually videos themselves) are the ones where you have some random guy being recorded and shamed online just because... he was reading a book? Like most of the videos are just a regular guy sitting at a cafe reading a book. On many occasions they don't even have that many "performative male" stereotypes. Just a random person in a T-shirt and shorts being videoed without their consent and ridiculed on the internet for literally no reason other reason than "well they might only be reading a book because they want to get laid" but like.... some people actually enjoy reading? Sure, maybe there are guy out there who will read a book in public because they want to get laid, but that doesn't justify videoing and posting random strangers minding their own business.

The second issue I have is with the trend itself. When you boil it down, what's it actually saying? To me, the main takeaways are:

- Men being vaguely effeminate is bad/defying gender roles is bad.

- Women's hobbies are dumb, and the only way a guy could ever be into them is if he's actually playing 4d chess to get laid.

- If you read books, you're either a manipulative liar or you're gay.

Now just consider those three things... isn't that exactly what homophobic, misogynistic, right-wing nutjobs say?

And even if you accept that every guy who fits the "performative male" archetype is actually just pretending to get laid... so what? Like is it really a bad thing that guys are at least pretending to be interested in their partner's interests? Isn't the alternative that those guys are still misogynistic shithead but just.. more open about it? And at the end of the day, it would mean more people buying from thrift stores, more being buying books, more people supporting small cafes.

Anyway, if you made it this far, thank you for reading my little rant. Please feel free to respond if u disagree, I'd love to hear opposing viewpoints. If this is a terrible take and I'm completely missing something, please let me know /gen

[glaiveyeahwoohoo]

this book is killing me

(rejection by tony tulathimutte)

[livelaughghoul]

is anyone really surprised to find out a professional hockey player was performative and is actually supportive and frothing at the mouth to spend time with misogynistic piece of shits?

[najimiosanairl]

performative males aren't performative, just misunderstood

[swanboyy]

males always say or do the bare minimum to the point its just performative. ugh, they genuinely don’t care about women nor feminism.

[cherlockgomes]

RIP Peter, you would've loved performative males. (I was rewatching The Great and got to the part where Peter starts reading Galileo to appear smarter and get Catherine to fall in love with him.)

[cdwalkman-d-e340]

i forget that i am perceived as performative sometimes because i have an ipod. please its not like that i genuinely only listen to offline music please please please dont compare me to the freak men