Old Man/Young Man Podcast: Ep. 1.1 – Performative Males

The Pepper Bough’s newest podcast takes a look at recent trends in popular culture through a generational lens.

Mark Rodriguez and Jeremiah Dollins • September 26, 2025

On the first episode of the “Old Man/Young Man” podcast, your hosts discuss the performative male trend.

Welcome to “Old Man/Young Man,” the Pepper Bough’s newest podcast that talks about current trends in popular culture through a generational lens. Your hosts Mark Rodriguez (young man) and Jeremiah Dollins (old man) will tackle the silly things keeping everyone amused.

On this first episode, the two hosts take a look at a trend that has been taking TikTok by storm: performative males! On TikTok, videos with the hashtag #performativemale have been watched over 28 million times, and over 149 million times with the hashtag #performative over the last several months. There are even performative male costume contests that have been a hit in Seattle, New York, and even Jakarta, Indonesia! So, of course these two had to talk about it.

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About the Contributors

Mark Rodriguez, Staff Writer

Mark Rodriguez is a senior at Colton High School. Other than the fact he is taller than you would expect a 17-year old to be, he’s a pretty average high school kid. He tends to get out of line, but he somehow manages to fix that (sometimes). He’s “smart” but struggles because of a lack of effort. However, when he tries, he can do excellent work (according to some sources). He likes to make people laugh and smile, but somehow he still struggles to talk to people. This is Mark’s fourth year writing for the Pepper Bough. He plans to pursue journalism after high school.

Jeremiah Dollins, Adviser

Jeremiah Dollins is in his third year as adviser for the award-winning Pepper Bough, Colton High School’s official source of news and entertainment. This is his 24th year in education, where he has taught students in grades 7-12 everything from English to Film Studies. His passions include writing and talking about movies, graphic design, and photography. For the Pepper Bough, he frequently contributes sports reporting, film reviews, and other odds-and-ends as he works with students to support their emergence as the next generation of journalists.