He’s emotionally sensitive. He wears jeans so baggy they defy the laws of physics. Every morning, he packs his canvas tote bag with a copy of Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar and a Clairo cassette, and when asked, he tells people he got both from a local vendor—but really, he purchased them at a Barnes & Noble.
He is the “performative male.” And he recently made a special appearance at the University of North Florida.
Hundreds of students flooded the UNF Green Wednesday to watch others compete in a “performative male” contest. The contest featured nearly 50 student competitors and was hosted by the UNF Vietnamese Student Association.
With matcha lattes, indie vinyls and Labubus in hand, contestants introduced themselves to the crowd and answered announcers’ questions for a chance to win the esteemed title of “No. 1 Period Hater.”
The announcers asked contestants questions such as, “How do you feel about women?” and “What are your thoughts on period cramps?”
When asked to introduce himself to the crowd, one contestant said, “My name isn’t what’s important. What’s important is all the women here tonight!”
A performative male, according to the New York Times, is someone who inauthentically “curates his aesthetic in a way that he thinks might render him more likable to progressive women.” The viral social media archetype has inspired several performative male contests at college campuses across the state and country.
Cameron Jewell, a freshman psychology major at UNF, was watching in the crowd Wednesday evening. Jewell defined a performative male as “a guy who does something for the ‘female gaze.’”
“They kind of just pretend to like things to get women to like them. Guys who act like how they think women want them to act,” Jewell said.
Jewell said she attended the event out of curiosity but then saw that some of her friends were competing in the event.
“It’s been entertaining,” Jewell said.
Myah Monix, a junior studying history, said she’s seen the performative male contest trend on social media and was surprised to see such a large turnout at UNF.
“Because this is such a small school… it’s fun to see how many people came out.”
The event’s announcers directed the crowd to their Instagram to vote for their favorite performative male. The winner? A contestant dressed in a full-body pink Labubu costume.
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Stephanie Smith | Sep 23, 2025 at 11:39 am
This is quite unfortunate – there are many ways to be a person and I don’t think that being considerate of others, having a beverage preference, or being emotionally available are things to mock and shame so publicly. Females dress and take on behaviors to be attractive and interesting to males, is this something that we should deride and discourage? I think that hosting this as a UNF event is an unfortunate example of intolerance that is unnecessary and hurtful. Behaviors and activities like this might be “just for fun” but they should be kept to more private venues and not held as a university endorsed activity.
Steve DuVal | Sep 22, 2025 at 9:46 am
Excellent!