Suffolk’s first ever “Performative Male Contest” was a success, drawing a big crowd and including nine impressive contestants.
The event, organized and run by Suffolk University’s Asian American Association and Vietnamese Student Association, took place Nov. 5, on the third floor of Sawyer and featured free matcha and celebrity guest judge, Aaron Yeung — or as he’s known online, ADrizzy. At the end of the event, Journal contributor Jordan Chantha was announced as the winner.
“[The Performative Male Contest] started as a consumerism and overconsumption commentary,” said Moses Tasik on how the idea for this event originated. Tasik serves as the public relations coordinator of AAA and a judge of the event.
Tasik said that in an AAA e-board meeting about trends and consumerism, the idea originated and then expanded into being a whole event, prompting AAA reaching out to SVA to organize the event together.
Sally Nguyen, the co-president of SVA, served as a judge and was one of the organizers of the contest.
“I feel like the performative male stereotype, a lot of the traits that you see in a performative male kind of originate from Asian culture,” Sally Nguyen said.
She describes how many of the stereotypical characteristics of a performative male such as labubu’s and matcha originated in Asian countries. Sally Nguyen also pointed out that Beabadoobee, a Filipino artist, is also often associated with this stereotype as well.
Despite the deeper origins of the event, its lighthearted nature was well established as the judges, the audience and the contestants all found themselves engaging with the competition in major ways.
The competition was structured to allow a contestant to present their outfit and their pitch for why they are the best performative male. Following this, there was time for the judges to ask them a “curveball question,” before making a decision on the top three finalists.
“I love that the audience participated,” said Sarah Nguyen, referring to members of the audience who called out their own questions to the contestants.
The contestants themselves each took an innovative take on the stereotype, emphasizing different views and parts of their costume to stand apart from the others. While some sought to highlight their props of feminist literature and wired headphones, others went further with their pitches, centering them around their work to end women’s suffering.
In the end, Jordan Chantha was the winner with runner-ups Annie Nguyen and Lenny Mai.
All three finalists were impressive. Annie Nguyen, Yeung’s personal favorite according to Sally Nguyen, performed a Jeff Buckley song in a Labubu costume and Mai with her two matchas and two forms of headphones. But ultimately, Chantha stood out above the rest for the judges.
“He caught my eye the moment he walked in,” said Sally Nguyen.
Chantha’s costume contained Labubu’s hanging around his waist and a head scarf that elevated his look in comparison to the other contestants. His props also added to his pitch, as he pulled pads and tampons out of his pocket, giving one to a girl in the audience. In his tote bag, he had a bottle of Advil to help women who are experiencing period cramps, which he threw into the audience, accidentally hitting a girl in the head. To atone for this, he immediately dropped to his knees to apologize.
“He was pretty quick on his feet. He knew what to say,” said Sally Nguyen.
After winning the competition, Chantha said, “It was an honor, especially given all the women.”
Though Chantha admitted that he was not alone in his preparation for this competition.
“I gathered some of my friends who helped me come up with the stuff and we all worked together to make my outfit,” said Chantha.
In the end, he walked away with a T-shirt and a plushie, as well as the title of Suffolk University’s first and only Performative Male winner.
