Dawn Images

A new creature was spotted at Karachi’s Nusserwanji Park on Thursday, one easily distinguishable from the art students and joggers that usually frequent the garden — the performative male. Clad in baggy jeans, with bags slung over their shoulders and a variety of books in hand, a pack of them descended on the park for Karachi’s first Performative Male Competition.

Organised by filmmaker Shehzad Malik and visual artist Eman Siddiqui, the event was both a celebration of a softer form of masculinity and satire of people who try too hard. Malik said the point was to “talk about masculinity as a spectrum and focus on the sensitive side of males and masculinity, as that’s often portrayed as something you shouldn’t be showing”.

He acknowledged that some men take it too far, which is what the the event was trying to satirise. “That’s what this competition is about, it’s a take on being self-aware as a man,” Malik told Images.

The contest itself was a spectacle, with the first contestant being heckled off stage for knowing just one flavour of matcha. Wali, a law student dressed as a punk rocker in a Green Day tee and long curly hair, spoke about the work of American anthropologist Gayle Rubin to much applause. Another performer had a silent act, which he later said was “was supposed to be a show and tell,” but, “I am a performative male, so I don’t speak, just listen”.

A debate later broke out between Ayan, who wore a Labubu as part of his outfit, and Wali, who called Labubus “a manifestation of capitalist greed and consumerism”.

In the end, two winners were crowned by a show of hands from the audience, with a certificate torn in half to share between them. Huda, an art student, and Zaim, a DJ, received their halves of the document as the crowd cheered them on. Speaking to Images, Huda said society should let men express themselves openly, “Let them do what they wanna do.” She explained it’s only a performance when a person is “trying too hard to be someone they’re not. It’s just being a poser”.

Zaim explained what it means to be a performative male: “You pretend to follow certain trends when you’re not that person, you pretend to dress a certain way, you pretend to be woke…for female validation.”

Aaryan, a medical student who was also competing, said this was not a new idea. “‘Performative male’ is a relatively new term, but we’ve been calling them ‘pick-mes’ for a while now. It’s a continuation of this concept of pick-me men, who present themselves a certain way not because it’s authentic to them, but because it’s appealing to women.”

He added that this was just one kind of performance and most men perform not for women, but for other men. “They have this more aggressive kind of masculinity to them, to impress the boys.” He said that performing for women was better than performing for men, but both were inauthentic. The competition, Aaryan said, “was poking fun at that as a statement: ‘we need to move from all this and be our authentic selves’”.

Wali defined a performative male as one “that dresses for the female gaze”. He said the concept had become a meme and a fashion statement that anyone can follow. He added that this also meant actual performative men can play to the fact it’s part of meme culture when they’re confronted. “To some degree, that helps them avoid accountability,” he said.

It wasn’t all that deep though. “It’s just good fun, a bit like a cosplay competition,” said Ayan, adding, “I am just a performative male for the day.”

Events like the Performative Male Competition, which was born out of a social media trend, encourage a chronically online generation to interact outside of their phones and — literally — touch some grass. Similar events have also been held in Islamabad and Lahore, where the city’s most performative gathered to out perform each other. It wasn’t all performance though — the atmosphere was jovial and a lot of participants hung around well after the awards were handed out. They may not all have won prizes, but many walked away with some new friends.