Last Friday 17th October King’s College London (KCL) held it’s first ever performative male contest.
For those that are unaccustomed with the term, it essentially means a guy that adapts certain personality traits in order to impress women. This can include doing anything from drinking matcha, feminist novels or listening to female artists (the list is endless).
The event, which was organised by KCL Mani Pedi Society, took place at the Bush House Quad and saw nearly 20 students enter with outfits that included everything from serenading to homemade matcha.
After a round of voting amongst the crowd, it was ultimately Zaid, who took home the prize as KCL’s best performative male. His winning outfit featured matcha, homemade banana bread and a tote bag.
@lubii.mwah my first performative male contest, would definitely come watch again #fyp #kcl #kingscollegelondon #london #performative
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In a video posted to Instagram, he shared that he was “very grateful” for all the women that voted for him.
However, Zaid wasn’t the only one to impress the crowd. Runner up Artem did too, arriving to the event with a f**ck periods sign (Italian Bach would approve) as well as two t-shirts: One featuring Clairo and the other Lana Del Ray.
Speaking to The King’s Tab, Artem revealed that he decided to participate in the contest as he’d “seen these all over the internet before and it always looks like a good time.”
He shared that this wasn’t his first time at an performative male competition and that he “even went to the one in Soho Square a couple weeks before – but didn’t get to compete sadly.”
When asked about the inspiration behind his double t-shirt combination he explained: “I’m genuinely a big fan of both Lana and Clairo (literally on the committee for Lana Del Rey Soc at King’s) so the double t-shirt choice was a no-brainer.”
He added: “The other stuff was mine too, except the Paloma Wool tote that I borrowed. But besides that and the matcha I didn’t actually drink, I do genuinely own and like most of these things and exaggerating it all a little for the competition just made it more fun.”
Speaking to The King’s Tab Breanna, president of KCL Mani Pedi Society, explained that the event idea had been suggested to the committee by a supporter of the society at this year’s freshers’ fair.
This isn’t the first time that the society has hosted an event like this, having previously hosted a Jude Bellingham lookalike competition last year.
She explained that despite the society mainly focusing on nails, it enjoys creating these “random social events to encourage some enthusiasm on campus and make us more multi-faceted”.
When asked about how she thinks the event went for the team she said: “We feel as though it went very well after tons of planning, it was all down to the contestants, they came so prepared and with tons of props, which calmed us down about hosting it since we had nerves as a still very new society.”
Featured image via @lubii.mwah on TikTok
