Students participated and socialized with fellow students at the viral Performative Man Contest on Tuesday, Oct. 7, at UMKC’s Roo Plaza. The contest follows the success of the Performative Lesbian Contest, which was held the week prior.
The contests have become a trend that has spread across cities and college campuses nationwide. Participants show up in their best “performative” attire, which includes baggy jeans, patterned button-up shirts and Adidas Sambas. They wore their wired headphones with an iced matcha in hand, all while explaining why they deserve to be crowned the “Most Performative Man” on campus.
Both contests were organized by sophomore sociology student Lana Peregrina. Peregrina says she led the event because students claim that UMKC has “no campus life, yet they do nothing to help improve it.”
“Everyone likes to complain how boring it is, but no one actually wants to do anything about it,” she said.
Although the contest had gained traction on online platforms such as YikYak, Peregrina said that the turnout was not as large as she had anticipated.
“There were a lot of people hyping this up and they didn’t come, but the lesbian contest went well and I was happy about that,” Peregrina said.
Contestants say that they not only participated for the fun of it, but also because it allowed them to meet and interact with other students.
“It’s nice having people come together, especially those that I have never seen or met on campus before,” said Seb Skaggs, a junior studying media, art and design. “We’re all here for this one thing.”
Sophomore and psychology student Dylan Blake had found out about the contest just an hour before from a friend.
“I was scrambling to put something on for like 20 minutes,” Blake said. “You see a lot of cool people out here, like of course the performative stuff is a bit overplayed, but you get to see people’s true interests shine through.”
Tahja’e Paige, a junior studying film and media arts who attended the contest, says she enjoys going to student-led events and that she would like to see more of them.
“I think it’s good that the student body is hosting these events. They are in tune with the latest memes and trends, making the events fun, hilarious, and easy opportunities to talk to other students,” said Paige.
