About

Performative Reading refers to an axiom and slang term commonly referred to in memes in which people deride others, primarily younger males, for reading books in public, calling the act "performative" or insincere. Memes about "performative reading" began gaining traction alongside memes about performative males, indicating a growing belief among some young people that reading books in public is an insincere and pretentious act.

Discourse about performative reading began appearing online in blogs and think pieces after 2020, and initially revolved around the use of social media and reading-tracking apps like Goodreads, but later began to revolve around the practice of reading in public in general. Memes about "performative reading" often target men, with the implication being that they are reading female authors or feminist literature in public in order to appear intelligent and gather the attention of women.

The U R Not a Vibe Bro post is also an early example of discourse surrounding performative reading.

Origin

Discussions about reading performatively in order to cultivate a persona or impress others began gaining traction online during 2020, with Jean Watt arguing that social-media tools and reading-tracking apps like Goodreads can turn reading into a performance in an August 2nd, 2020, article on Era Journal^[1] titled, "On Performative Reading."

A June 24th, 2021, blog post on Crusoe's Books,^[2] titled "Performative Reading," provides a historical overview of how reading and book ownership historically have served as markers of social class and cultural capital.

An article by Eve Upton-Clark published on July 21st, 2021, in Cosmopolitan^[3] also discussed the "rise of performative reading and how it’s changed our relationship with books."

However, the earliest known notable viral social media post about "performative reading" is a March 21st, 2023, "Subway Takes" TikTok^[4] in which guest @john_bigmun delivers his hot take that reading on the subway is "performative." The video gathered over 20,000 likes in two years.

Spread

On April 21st, 2024, Instagram^[5] user @finnharryy posted a video titled, "Performatively reading >" where he joked about reading Emily Ratajkowski or Emrata's book My Body. The video gathered over 2 million likes in a year.

On December 10th, 2024, X^[6] user @midwxsternboy tweeted, "Reading in public is an entirely performative act and I will not be convinced otherwise," gathering over 13,000 likes in a year.

On February 9th, 2025, TikToker^[7] @dellwinder posted a video captioned, "The male urge to grab a coffee and do some performative reading," gathering over 900,000 views and 90,000 likes in 10 months.

On November 21st, X^[8] user @FelipeDiPoi posted an animation captioned, "Performative Reading," gathering over 900,000 views and 30,000 likes on a video where someone stresses out about looking "performative" while reading on the subway.

On December 2nd, 2025, Brady Brickner-Wood published an article, titled "The Curious Notoriety of 'Performative Reading,'" in the New Yorker,^[9] asking if the phrase was a "new way of calling people pretentious," or if it reflected a "deprioritization of the written word."

On December 3rd, X^[10] user @peteyburn tweeted, "Saw this guy reading on the subway and he looked up at every girl that walked past lmao. Performative reading at its finest," alongside a grainy photo of a man waiting on a subway platform. The post gathered over 40,000 likes in two days.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References