He reads, brings home blooms and performs on ukulele. The perfect guy or is it just an act?

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Having period products in his pants and a shoulder bag full of gender equality texts, the participant was confident to participate.

Recently in the Soho Square area, he walked confidently against approximately 24 other contestants - and a few women with fake facial hair - in a style showdown to find the city's best "performative male".

Digital Trend

The online trope absorbs various style movements and design decisions, but most importantly, such individuals is attempting to convey a distinct signal - that he gets your challenges and is ready to listen to you.

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The sanitary pads display his compassion and readiness to help; the books showing he understands about the structural barriers of the patriarchy.

The Total Package

The tote bag will have an adorable toy attached (he's playful, naturally); the pants will be loose-fitting (comfort is king); the latte will be matcha (trendy drinks are for men too); the camera will use film (it's just more authentic).

The young artist admits he has particular passions that coincide with typical assumptions about performative males, but doesn't see himself as one. His peers insisted he participate in the competition.

Event Structure

At the venue, cheering onlookers voted for their preferred contestant after they were subjected to a series of trials, which included everything from explaining their choice of reading material to singing love ballads.

The participant picked a song that became popular on social media, where videos about such individuals have been extensively appreciated and shared in recent times.

I mastered basic ukulele skills for a track by Clairo called the song Sofia, explains the participant, who claims to be truly a fan of the soft rock singer.

The novel he picked was by author Cecelia Ahern. "The novel PS, I Love You is actually a excellent book."

Crowd Responses

During the event the participant began throwing roses to adoring fans in the gathering. "I often get floral arrangements frequently, he states, be it for my pals - or for my partner."

One of the women in the group - and it was predominantly women - was an observer.

She says that the contestant's self-possession, which featured humorous non-answers to challenging queries about female issues, was noticeable above the other performative men.

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He was one that I truly couldn't tell if he was putting on an act, to be like similar to that type, or if he was showing his true self - but regardless he performed excellently.

The observer, 22, thinks the contestant should really have won the winning position, along with its monetary award. He finished third.

Deeper Meanings

Even though the participants at the contest were a comical amplification of the styles and mannerisms you see among some young men, the young woman feels there's a deeper reason why they differentiate themselves as they do.

I believe they are trying to physically display their rejection of specific ideologies, she says, indicating they don't belong of the rising population of sexist, conservative, rigid thinkers you see these days.

Contemporary conversations have raised the alarm about particular online figures radicalising boys and young men into extreme misogyny in a way that is quite terrifying.

The spectator feels that, overall, a ideological divide has appeared between male and female youth and that, for certain women, it's extremely crucial their romantic interests are clear about where they feel about certain moral and societal concerns - like pregnancy termination, gender equality and LGBTQ+ rights.

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Authenticity Questions

I won't dispute that there's numerous persons who adopt this style just for female approval, comments the participant, and I think that a lot of people are merely acting to engage in these activities even though they're not really interested in feminism… primarily for female attraction.

Another woman in the crowd was 28-year-old screenwriter the commentator, who found the event rather therapeutic.

The event was honestly great, especially for an individual who has been alone with this kind of guy attempting to determine if he seriously thinks listing feminist authors was going to lead to intimacy - or if he was kidding.

Previously, the writer, who is black, also began seeing individuals mentioning black feminists they had encountered during dialogue.

They used to say all about the author and the scholar, as if they had consumed their entire bibliography while confined during lockdown. So it was satisfying to joke regarding these absurd situations at the event.