Miss Earth Philippines 2025 Joy Barcoma has never shied away from speaking her mind — but there's one label she believes people should stop throwing around: "performative."
In the May 16 episode of YSpeak 2.0, Joy was asked about the term in a discussion that also touched on the importance of speaking up. She made a case for why calling someone performative does more harm than good.
For context, "performative" has become a common accusation on social media — used to call out people who appear to champion causes or adopt certain personas online but don't seem to practice them in real life. It gets applied broadly: to celebrities who post about advocacy, to ordinary people who bring books to cafés but don't actually read them, or to anyone whose online presence is perceived as a performance rather than genuine conviction.
Joy's take? The label itself is the problem.
"I used to have that mindset when it comes to people, but I also learned na mali siya in a way," she admitted, acknowledging that she once saw things the same way before reconsidering.
According to Joy, slapping the "performative" label on someone restricts them from getting to know themselves and growing into their full potential. "If we're going to label people, we're restricting them from being their true selves and from reaching their full capabilities as a person," she said.
She also reframed what it even means to perform.
"Remember, we're all performative in a way. We perform for people. We perform for the people that we love. We perform for ourselves," she said, arguing that performing, in and of itself, is simply human.
Joy also extended grace to those who are only beginning to find their footing on certain issues, noting that awareness is often the first step toward genuine change.
"Sana hindi natin nililimit ang tao as performative, because remember that change starts from awareness," she said. "And these people we label as performative — by posting, sharing, or just sharing their insights — they're already contributing to the change that we want to see in society."
Beyond the individual, Joy argued that the habit of labeling people performative has a broader cost: it creates division when unity is what movements need most.
"Kung hahanap tayo ng mas maraming kaaway, we're not able to reach a unified change in the future," she said.
Her call to action was straightforward: instead of dismissing people, encourage them.
"We should just support them and encourage them na maging hindi lang performative but a person who is principled when it comes to their advocacies and beliefs," she said.
—By Paolo Lim