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The Performative Male Epidemic - Louise Perry & Mary Harrington (4K)

Louise Perry is a writer, Press Officer for the campaign group We Can’t Consent To This and an author. Mary Harrington is a writer, columnist and an author. Why are young people having less sex than ever? Has something in our evolution shifted, or has modern life become so confusing that we can’t even tell what we’re attracted to anymore? What’s really happening to relationships today, and is there anything we can do to fix it? Expect to learn why Americans are having record amounts of low sex, if #MeToo do more good than harm for modern relationships and how well it over all went, why the rise of the performative male might be the case for increased sexlessness sin young adults, if Taylor Swift’s trad-wife arc be enough to fix birthrate decline, why the rise of Princess treatment is taking over social media, why we live in a world that punishes chivalrous men, what the mood on the ground in the UK among women right now and much more… - 0:00 Could Taylor Swift’s Engagement Shift the Declining Birth Rate? 14:06 Are We Underestimating the Power of ‘the Auntie’? 22:44 The Rise of the Labubu Man 32:37 Do Women Prefer Labubu Men or Himbos? 49:18 Will the English Flag Start a Culture War? 01:01:30 Is Lifestyle BDSM Just Princess Treatment in Disguise? 01:13:20 What Does It Take to Form Good Men? 01:23:19 How #MeToo Changed the Way Men Approach Women 01:40:14 How Can Men Walk the Line Between Masculine and Feminine Energy? 01:46:04 Did #MeToo Kill Schlub Feminism? 01:54:31 Do Women Really Want a Shredded Man? 02:03:38 Are Progressive Women Turning to the Right? 02:13:23 Where to Find Louise and Mary - Get 35% off your first subscription on the best supplements from Momentous at https://livemomentous.com/modernwisdom Get a free bottle of D3K2, an AG1 Welcome Kit, and more when you first subscribe at https://ag1.info/modernwisdom Get $100 off the best bloodwork analysis in America at https://functionhealth.com/modernwisdom Get a Free Sample Pack of LMNT’s most popular flavours with your first purchase at https://drinklmnt.com/modernwisdom - Get access to every episode 10 hours before YouTube by subscribing for free on Spotify - https://spoti.fi/2LSimPn or Apple Podcasts - https://apple.co/2MNqIgw Get my free Reading List of 100 life-changing books here - https://chriswillx.com/books/ Try my productivity energy drink Neutonic here - https://neutonic.com/modernwisdom - Get in touch in the comments below or head to... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx Email: https://chriswillx.com/contact/

Chris WilliamsonhostLouise PerryguestMary Harringtonguest
Nov 16, 20252h 14mWatch on YouTube ↗

At a glance

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Sex Recession, Limbic Capitalism, And Rise Of The Performative Male

  1. Chris Williamson, Louise Perry, and Mary Harrington explore why people are having less sex despite more permissive sexual norms, arguing that smartphones, limbic capitalism, obesity, and collapsing social structures are undermining relationships, fertility, and desire.
  2. They discuss how celebrity culture, K‑pop contracts, and parasocial relationships shape fertility norms, and whether propaganda or high‑status role models like Taylor Swift can realistically shift birth rates.
  3. A long middle section examines new male and female archetypes—performative males, Labubu men, himbos, princess treatment, tradwives, and lifestyle BDSM—showing how post‑MeToo anxieties, social media, and the attention economy feminize male behavior and commodify relationships.
  4. The conversation ends with politics and class: migration, flags, British class history, online mobs, and how women may shift rightward as maternal instincts and safety concerns override earlier progressive solidarities.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Less sex coexists with more permissive sexual norms because stable pair bonds are disappearing.

Perry notes you can have a culture that permits casual sex while people still have very little actual sex, since sporadic hookups and fewer long‑term partnerships yield low overall frequency.

Smartphones and limbic capitalism divert people from relationships and reproduction.

Harrington cites David Courtwright’s 'limbic capitalism'—business models that hijack dopamine via junk food, porn, and social media—arguing that constant digital stimulation outcompetes sex, family life, and even going outside.

High‑status role models can nudge fertility, but propaganda has limits.

They discuss Taylor Swift’s engagement and a Georgian priest who boosted third births by offering baptisms, concluding that memetic and status‑based nudges help but are insufficient to reverse structural birth decline.

Post‑MeToo, many men have overcorrected into 'performative' or Labubu masculinity.

The panel describe a soft, aestheticized, risk‑averse male type—matcha, tote bag, floppy hair—who is extremely HR‑safe and feminized, often signaling progressive values as a mating strategy but leaving women cold and reducing sexual polarity.

Hyper‑online relationship scripts mirror BDSM dynamics and erode genuine intimacy.

Concepts like 'princess treatment,' tradwife branding, and lifestyle BDSM often present as submission but, in practice, place power with the supposedly submissive partner and turn private life into monetizable content.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

You could argue we are being selected against by our own commercial infrastructure.

— Mary Harrington

Birth rate decline might be a slightly bigger challenge than can be fixed by Taylor Swift.

— Louise Perry

What if the noodle‑armed Labubu guys are actually more evolutionarily fit in an office economy?

— Mary Harrington

Online advice is no good. What forms men is not women, it’s other men.

— Mary Harrington

It seems like we’ve optimized for a very reductive meme version of ourselves.

— Chris Williamson

Declining sex and fertility rates across relationship typesSmartphones, limbic capitalism, and distraction from family formationCelebrity and parasocial influence on marriage and birth norms (Taylor Swift, K‑pop, Lana Del Rey)New gender archetypes: performative males, Labubu men, himbos, princess treatment, tradwivesMeToo’s downstream effects on male behavior, cold approach, and dating anxietyCollapse of offline community: aunts/uncles, cousins, dinner parties, and male mentorshipClass, migration, British identity politics, and women’s potential shift toward the right

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