An iced matcha latte in hand, a tote bag slung over the shoulder with a feminist literature reading list, and wired earphones blasting Clairo’s Immunity album.

Apparently, these are the prerequisites for fitting into 2025. Originally popularized through social media, the lifestyle of this new archetype is saturated with trendy keychains, books, albums—going along with progressive women to attract them, while not necessarily adhering to the principles he projects.

Spanning the digital and in-person spheres, the rapid rise of the Performative Male is centered on a portrayal of a comic manipulator who is ridiculed for his faux femininity—if not complicit in more serious transgressions. This microtrend, coming after the wake of e-boys and male manipulators, is likely to fade by the succeeding months. Yet as these jokes air out, they reinforce the established norms of machismo. A careful examination of the Performative Male before his disappearance, even when his appeal appears cringe-worthy, can clear up society’s enduring tradition of gender performance.

A social mirror

On face value, these self-proclaimed “feminists” present themselves as enlightened allies—co-opting feminism as a trending bandwagon to jump on, instead of engaging in substantial efforts to challenge patriarchy. With a carefully curated image and seemingly long list of props and costumes, it carries the air of consumerism, positioning men to express themselves superficially.

Pauline Puli, a Mindanao-based artist and author, commented that The Performative Male seemingly curates habits solely to impress women with specific interests.

“Most of the men I see adopting fem interests are in one group. Like, a specific group of women who like books, then they go and read books to impress them, but that’s it—they don’t go deeper,” she said.

This archetype does not represent a novel male type. Instead, he embodies the most recent swing of the gender-performance pendulum within the familiar choreography of masculinity. 

Maria Tocmo, a second-year AB Psychology student, shared that she’s become accustomed to the sight of men pressuring other men to act in specific ways to fit their particular idea of masculinity.

“I remember back in elementary, I [had] a school mate who cried in school… Instead of comforting him, some kids started teasing him … like crying automatically made him less of a boy, which really showed how early that pressure to “act like a man” starts,” she shared.

Actors of the world’s stage

The core problem of the Performative Male is not the act of performance itself—since everyone curates their image to some extent—but the unease that arises when men deviate from traditional masculine norms. This discomfort may mirror not so much a change in performance, but a reluctance to permit masculinity to become more emotional, inclusive, and expressive. 

As American feminist philosopher and gender studies scholar Judith Butler contended, identity itself is performative. In this case, gender is constructed through repeated gestures, choices, and actions that acquire significance in the long run. 

Davao-based writer Mariel Mullot remarked that the consumerism associated with the Performative Male stains the image of men who have genuine interests.

“It’s actually frustrating to some, especially that it ruins the image of some activities that they do. For example, men who love to wear tote bags and drink matcha. Nowadays, when people see someone do the exact same thing, they are immediately labeled “performative”… I honestly think it limits the freedom of men to express themselves, especially emotionally.”

The Performative Male may represent another fleeting microtend destined to vanish–much like the soft-boy persona of 2020 existing only in nostalgia-inflected TikTok edits. But the tendency to mock him endures, because the laughter targets not the individual wearing a vintage tee, but the collective anxiety triggered when masculinity appears to accommodate women. Although one might pretend that society exists within a solely progressive enclave, the reality remains that the prevailing culture is molded by conservative gender norms.

“Honestly, this should start at home. Men should be taught at an early age that it’s okay to be emotional and [vulnerable] because it’s inevitable to feel emotions. If men my age or even older, I think as a society, what we can offer is acceptance and empathy toward men who are just trying to be themselves,” Mulot added.

One’s identity is always evolving—the performative frame is one lens, not an inevitable outcome for all men. Seen from this perspective, this archetype embodies a dual nature of how young men articulate their sense of self: those whose outward displays reflect their genuine values, and the other, staged to satisfy an imagined audience with templates embraced strategically for social capital.  

Editor’s Note: This article was first issued in the December 2025 First Semester Newsletter of Atenews.