Tote bags, watered-down matchas and faux feminism descended upon the Urban Park Roof Garden in Cambridge on Saturday, as a dozen contestants battled it out for the title of “most performative male.”
The Boston performative male contest, organized by Berklee College of Music student Emma Ababa, drew a crowd of around 30 attendees — most of them college students — and 12 competitors.
Ababa hosted the event to bring “together multiple communities” after witnessing the rise of performative male contests on social media.
The contestants were judged on their fashion, niche interests and “performative male” catchphrases. Touting vinyl albums and feminist books, the competitors took to the stage one by one, explaining their look and what made them a “performative male.”
Each competitor then delivered their catchphrase, amusing the crowd with lines like, “I support women’s wrongs and women’s rights” and “I hate period cramps.” One contestant handed out free menstrual pads to audience members.
Attendees and competitors defined a “performative male” as a man who adopts “female” hobbies, such as reading or listening to certain artists, to attract women.
“They buy things like Labubus, and they wear baggy pants and collared shirts, and they get a certain haircut, just so that they can be perceived by women that they are the type that they want,” Ababa said. “But it’s just all a lie.”
For some, the event was an opportunity to encourage healthy masculinity and foster community.
“It’s a very positive thing for the community, especially in a place like Boston, where there’s tons of diverse people,” said Berklee student Adrian Soliz, the co-host and a contestant. “We can all come together and say, ‘Hey, you can dress up and stuff, but you should be true to yourself above all else.’”
Students from multiple Boston colleges cheered on competitors.
“[The contest] builds creativity in a group of people who are … trying to figure themselves out,” said Anna Delmonaco, a student at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.
Berklee student Kelvin Francis was crowned the winner. He said the performative male trend reflects the real experiences of women who have been misled by inauthentic men.
“It’s healing that we can make fun of it,” he said.
The contest brings people together “for a silly reason,” Francis added.
“The amount of laughter and smiles I saw [is] the whole reason, to spread joy and love and build community out of something that’s really funny,” he said.
As the event came to a close, some contestants remained in character as they filtered out, continuing enthused rants about struggles women face.
“Let’s just keep fighting against the trials and tribulations that women face every day, and try to eliminate all those qualms that they have to face for the sole injustice of being born a female,” said runner-up Tristian Reyna.
