In the age of tote bags, Sally Rooney novels, and Birkenstocks, a new villain has risen from the ashes — the greatest threat to womankind since Gillette’s Razor marketing campaign of the 1950s. The performative male reader has captured the hearts of many unsuspecting victims, whilst simultaneously giving the ick to everyone else.
One of their greatest crimes, however, is contributing to the narrative that reading in public is now somehow pretentious. But what does that signal about how we value the written word in modern society?
The one upside is that it suggests our culture holds some value for literature. That, however performative it may be, reading is still cool? At least that is the intention behind performative reading. We can all envision the desired impact of the performative male reader.
Picture the scene. You could be walking down the street one day with a clear sense of self. But you are struck down at the sight of a baggy jean-, beanie- and hoop earring-wearing gentleman reading none other than… Joan Didion. Suddenly, you think, “Now there is a man who might finally understand me.”
When I think of the art of performative reading, a few books automatically come to mind:
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami: The walking red flag of all literature. If ever you see a man sitting on a bench with a coffee, reading anything by Murakami: run a mile. No matter how articulate his mixture of surrealism and logical realism might be, his depiction of women is the equivalent of watching paint dry.
Normal People by Sally Rooney: The benchmark for any man who wants to be in purely situationships. Because treating women like rubbish often just means that they have so much emotional depth that their partner just would not understand. As demonstrated by Connell Waldron, the blueprint for treating a woman like a place mat, while insisting to himself that he loves her.
The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir: A masterclass in demonstrating that reading books written by a woman signals that women’s voices do actually matter! Congratulations feminism!
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky: Because hyper-masculinity, aggression, and the belief that men are superior have NEGATIVE moral consequences!
1984 by George Orwell: The god to all performative readers.
Just like kids by Patti Smith: A book that next-to-no person has actually finished, it is the perfect way to assert your dominance in the contemporary literature world.
It is easy to feel disdain for the performativity attached to reading. Especially frustrating is someone using literature to convey emotional depth, intellectualism, and anti-masculine ideals to portray themselves as progressive. Rather than actively engaging in the literature and caring about women.
My fear is that whilst it may be comical and often accurate to call out performative readers, it is having an impact on how we treat literature as something that is snobbish, whilst de-prioritising the written word.
The reality that everyone does not like to admit is that most people in life are performative. By this I do not mean to say that we are disingenuous. But we care about how we are perceived by others, and appeal to certain aesthetics, whether it is through literature, music, or film. When we care about things that matter to us, we wish to make them known as we feel they represent some aspect of who we truly are. Especially through our use of social media, in which we actively curate our feeds to represent the person we believe ourselves to be.
Therefore, when we label people as performative, we either make reading seem uncool or treat it as an elitist club in which only supposed “true readers” can participate. This is a defining characteristic of literature communities, where readers are constantly challenged on their favorite books and the reasons they love them. Not to motivate an interesting conversation, but to assert intellectual dominance and perceived superiority over others. This creates a toxic and competitive environment in which authenticity and “intellectualism” are commodified to give validation to an individual’ s sense of superiority.
In other words, who am I to label anyone as a performative reader? Let reading be fun, and read whatever, wherever and whenever you want. So what if you want to dangle from a tree branch with a matcha in one hand and a book in the other?
But there is also some truth to the experience of being mansplained. The symbolism of it is featured within American Psycho, as Patrick Bateman’s murderous and cannibalistic actions resemble the predatory motivations behind corporate greed, and our consumerist society. Oh, and also toxic masculinity is bad… stay safe, ladies.
Photo by wessim mechergui on Unsplash