signs harry styles is a performative male
be wary, girls, as he turns on the charm this press tour
I became of a fan of Harry Styles, vis-à-vis my One Direction obsession, in 2011. Which, you’ll notice, means I have received dopamine-spiking notifications about him for approximately 15-years.
Throughout these 15-years1, I have gathered information about Harry Styles which has shattered his fanfiction facade and revealed to me what I believe he truly is: a performative male. In another universe—where he didn’t catapult to fame at age 16—he lives in East London and has sex with girls while MkGee plays in the background.
Now, don’t get me wrong—in this alternate universe, I am likely the girl in his share house immensely tuned on by his patchwork tattoos and soft mullet haircut. However, it’s exactly because Harry Styles does not live in this alternate universe, living paycheck-to-paycheck, surrounded by other struggling creatives or lost twenty-somethings, that he is so oblivious to the cliché of his performativity.
his reading tastes
If there was a Venn Diagram between “Red Flag Books Men Read” and “Books Harry Styles Loves” it would be a circle. One can tell a lot by the books a person likes. For example, if I said my favourite book was The Bell Jar you should probably ask me if everything is okay; if you see a man on public transport reading A Court of Thorns and Roses, you can be sure he’s trying to get laid.
In 2017, off the back of his debut album release, Styles shared images via AnOther Man magazine of his treasured possessions. Included in this article? Three books, most notably a collection of Charles Bukowski poems—specifically “Love Is A Dog From Hell.”
If you’re unfamiliar with Charles Bukowski, he’s a chauvinistic, racist poet who thinks it’s provocative to use the word “cunt.” What he’s written is almost exclusively revolutionary to the male brain. It’s a lot like saying your favourite poem is by Rupi Kaur. Have you no time to pick up some Mary Oliver?
Alongside very male poetry, Styles seemingly also enjoys very male prose. In an interview with Timothée Chalamet, Styles says if he could read one book for the rest of his life, it would be Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami. Now, he’s even being interviewed by Murakami for Runner’s World.
There’s plenty of content out in the world which grapples with Murakami’s less-than flattering representation of women. TikToks of people realising he’s the Colleen Hoover of Japan and inability to mention a female character without describing the size of her tits. And sure, this could be the author purposefully delving into the mind of his young male character, but it’s declaratively not, as he revealed in an interview where he was asked if he’s “consciously changing the way [he] writes about women” and replied that he’d “never thought about it.”
Liking Murakami as a man is to admit you don’t think in depth, or dimensionality, about women. You are willing to accept them as the size of their boobs and their purpose as a foil for male characters.
the lyrics he’s written
I’m a strong believer that Harry’s House was the pinnacle of Straight Male Indulgence. Many of the songs sound like Charles Bukowski poems made lyrical (and we know why that sucks now).
My biggest lyrical gripe with Styles is his song ‘Little Freak’. In particular, the use of the word “jezebel” in the opening line, and referring to a woman as a “wet dream just dangling.”
i’m not sure if you’ve ever experienced a man calling you a (sexual) freak or a wet dream—I haven’t—but I can hazard a pretty strong guess it’s akin to being called a minx or a tease, both of which I have been called. Men intend these things as compliments, because sexual woman is—to them—a dream woman, but fail to acknowledge the subtext of such a word.
“Jezebel” was a character in the bible, villainised for her promiscuity. It then became a term commonly used to denigrate black women during slavery. And now, in the post-feminist milieu of the 21st century, one must interpret it as a compliment. A praising of her feminine wiles and sexual proclivities. But can you divorce the adjective from it’s history, especially when paired with the word “freak”?
the wardrobe.
By virtue of his career, people take “incognito” photos of Harry Styles. These photos, as invasive as they are, reveal Styles in his purest form: tote bag wearing, lime bike strolling, short-short supporting man.
I have no words, really, to describe how fully Styles embodies the left-wing-creative-man archetype. What would solidify my point, and proof of him being a performative male, is to emphasise my severe attraction to it. I am only capable of being attractive to a man who uses wired headphones, would rather die than own chinos, and has a varied collection of tote bags from delicatessens and bookstores.
I write all this in jest, though these is something to be said about the intersection between performativity and maleness. It doesn’t take much for a man to divulge from the expected format of maleness. Simply by preferring the arts to sports or reading to gaming, he is considered different and obscure, branded with the label of performative because it makes no sense for a man to diverge from the comfortable and privileged identity awarded to them under patriarchy2.
My advice to be wary of these performative men is likely because they are men which have considered the female perspective—what a concept! They do know what music you listen to, or books you read, and it’s alluring to not have to explain your preferences or beliefs. Styles is so locked in to women, he has the empathy to write a song about their romantic plights:
Boyfriends
They think you're so easy
They take you for granted
They don't know they're just misunderstanding you
Styles is the perfect subject to analyse this phenomena with—and also accuse of queer-baiting. We can never be sure if his identity, actually, a performance (I mean, he’s literally a performer) or simply the result of a man pivoting from his expected identity.
get more of me here:
IG: @usingmyphd or @georgiannicholls
TikTok: @gnics
That’s such a fucked up long amount of time. Who showed me the song ‘What Makes Your Beautiful’? I just wanna talk about how you totally altered the trajectory of my life.
There may never, ever be something I write that abstains from mentioning patriarchy. It’s in everything.