Image credit: PinterestAll the world’s a stage,And all the menMerely performative?Taylor Swift, Sylvia Plath, tote bag and of course matcha...that's how the social media is labelling men as "performers". Performers of what? A male.But if one digs a little deeper than the 10 second reel, the 15 second reel enlightens you that its the men "performing" to be "feminists"."A disparaging or dismissive term" for a man who engages insincerely in certain activities or behaviors to appear safe/sophisticated/feminist and thus appeal to women": and that is how, kids, Merriam-Webster defines the term.But isn't it quite performative of a 180-year old dictionary to just define a trend that just arrived, and would leave even faster than you finish reading the article?So TOI reached out to the experts. Some learned, some experienced, and others, definitely performatives!Who is a 'performative male'?"Someone who wants to grab attention," explained a self-styled "non-performative male", Ayush Pandey, sitting with his charcoal peel-off mask on.Though the term in itself is a recent phenomena, the essence was captured by 20th century philosopher Judith Butler, who said that "gender is a performance" calling it a "strategy of survival" with "clearly punitive consequences"."The notion of a 'project', however, suggests the originating force of a radical will, and because gender is a project which has cultural survival as its end, the term 'strategy' better suggests the situation of duress under which gender performance always and variously occurs," Butler wrote in her paper Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory.Putting it in a modern day perspective, self-proclaimed feminist Rajeev Singh cited one's "friend circle, pop culture and trends" as crucial factors that eventually creates a "vicious circle of validation"."Most of them are influenced by their friend circle, which is influenced by pop culture...making it a vicious circle that requires validation. Now quest for validation, which makes a person performative, is mainly driven by a set template which, men think is a proven way to fit where they want themselves to fit. So, basically they are socially conditioned...where the trend plays a big role," Singh said.If males 'perform', then is social media the platform?While the trend comes with a gender, the performance requires a platform. Social media has clearly capitalized on it, with its unending reels, pushing 'how to identify a performative male' in everyone's feeds.Surya Bhushan, economics professor at JNU, noted that the digital spotlight had amplified the pressure on men. "While it's hard to generalize, social media has undeniably increased the performative nature of masculinity. The platforms allow individuals to hurl severe, gendered abuse—often targeting women related to public figures—with impunity."20th century economist Herbert A Simon talked of the economics of attention and the theory became popular during the internet boom era as attention as, a source, became scarce.Terming it the age where "self-image is currency", the JNU professor warned against making it "transactional". "I think, it is important to remember that we all have the right to exist without constantly feeling the need to 'perform' a specific version of ourself. However, as we live in an age where self-image is currency, the only advice, I can suggest, don't make it transactional, which, prima facie, looks like," he said.Is the performative male the same as 'pick me'?"Yes both are rooted in performance, not authenticity," said Priyanka Mukherjee, a millennial news desk manager who often finds herself aghast with Gen Z employees she manages."‘Pick me’ and ‘performative male’ behaviour are driven by the same thing: the pressure to be seen, approved, and validated in a hyper-online world. Basically, both curate versions of themselves for the attention of others," she noted.Gen Z employee, Manya Jain, however, offered a different view to this saying that "pick me are also boys and performative are also girls". Not agreeing with the gendered aspect of the term, she added: "Performative people are those with no personality."'Performative male' vs traditional masculinityLewis Wedlock, a social psychologist who studies masculinities, pointed out that the term becomes particularly harsh when one man uses it about another, as it suggests contempt for the other’s authenticity and accuses him of performing in a way that caters to women, online portal Parents reported on its platform."The whole act of the performing requires the man to step aside from the patriarchal timeline. Their act defies societal standards of masculinity. That's why it gets targeted so much," Pandey explained.When asked why particularly this "performative" act gets targeted the most, Singh said, "Because that's not real, and it's a sensitive issue for women. For them it means something."However, fellow male colleague of theirs had a differing opinion. "On first thoughts, I feel that it is to call out the men who are actually not feminists and pretending to be one, instead of reinforcing traditional patriarchal concepts," said Shubhanshu Dwivedi, a sports news writer, who quickly understood the topic and formed his opinions, however, later seemed not very satisfied from it.Calling it an offshoot of "sharp rise in far-right thinking", Vivek Dubey, who has allegedly been termed 'performative', said: "One way to look at would that over the past decade there has been a sharp rise in far-right thinking which can in part be attributed social media. Now you have the echo chambers like the Locker Room in India, where men, mostly teens are indulging in a propagating in what can at the very least be called hateful comments against women."He declared that he would take it as a "badge of honor" because "to move past this toxic cycle of hate people need to make a conscious effort."