Hundreds gathered at Alamo Square Park to identify and mock the "performative male," described as men who adopt feminine-presenting traits to attract women. Attendees identified common markers: matcha consumption, coffee-snob behavior, collecting vinyl/CDs/cassettes, thrifted cardigans, canvas tote bags, and virtue-signaling with feminist literature. Organizers staged a look-alike contest, enlisting an AI model and a panel, and drew thousands beyond RSVPs. The crowd displayed curated aesthetics—CD collections, Labubus, Miffys, and Charli XCX on speakers. Many organizers were young women, including tech transplants and interns, framing the event as a send-off before leaving the city.
A performative male is "a man that dresses for the female gaze, projecting feminine energy to get women," said attendees AJ and Mayliah. "They're probably from LA, because they ran through all the women there." A "performative male" is not performing masculinity but, rather, performing femininity to manipulate women into thinking they aren't like other guys. They drink matcha or are a coffee snob, they collect analog media like vinyl, CDs or cassettes and they wear thrifted cardigans!
With the attendees dressed in their first-date best you'd think Clairo was putting on a private show at the park. It was too crowded to see the panel of judges or the actual contest, but you really didn't need to. Everywhere you looked there were hundreds of canvas tote bags, CD collections on display, Labubus, Miffys and speakers blasting Charli XCX - performativity at its finest.
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