‘Sassy Men’ Are Taking Over TikTok to Try to Eliminate Toxic Masculinity

Men like Prayag Mishra, who goes by the TikTok handle @444pray, take no offense to being perceived as more flamboyant than his peers. Mishra embraces his individuality and doesn’t shy away from his inherent personality traits, even though they may be considered non-traditional to some. More ‘sassy men’ are emerging on TikTok every day, and they have started a bold trend of males showcasing their feminine side over toxic masculinity.

Mishra talks excitedly, uses dramatic hand gestures, and occasionally dances in his videos. While he isn’t exactly the image of traditional masculinity, Mishra’s confidence shines through the screen. His charm and charisma have captivated viewers, as his following made an impressive jump from 29,000 to millions seemingly overnight.

The social media star even has a playful pet name for his loyal fans and fondly refers to them as “Pookie Bears.” In many ways, he has become the quintessential poster boy for ‘sassy men’ everywhere. While Mishra may be one of the most prominent ‘sassy men’ online, the term predates his meteoric rise to fame.

Soon after, people began sharing videos of their sassy significant others with larger-than-life attitudes. At first, being called sassy was considered not a term of endearment if you were a male. It was viewed as a slight against men who were effeminate and was even used as a homophobic slur at times. Sassy men of TikTok essentially got picked on by commenters, until men like Mishra proudly wore their sassy label like a badge of honor.

Mishra loves being called a so-called sassy man. “All the perfect ingredients of the sassy man apocalypse had been brought together,” he said, proudly promoting a new perception of what it means to be a man. “I’m just here to push it even further. I’m on the front lines of the sassy man apocalypse.”

Mishra is unapologetic about being sassy and he refuses to change who he is just to fit into some societal standard. When it comes to being a man, he knows what the expectations are – and he opts to go against every one of them.

“This is who I am,” said the TikToker. “This is the way that I express myself. I wasn’t expecting unanimous love. I wasn’t expecting support from people. I was expecting, you know, people to roast me and make fun of me.” Mishra has become so popular that he has even achieved meme status due to his quick quips and sassy one-liners. His fanbase is mostly female, and they can’t seem to get enough of him.

She believes that both males and females need to understand the importance of uplifting men who aren’t traditional ‘tough guy’ types. “If you’re trying to be a feminist and you’re trying to combat toxic masculinity, that’s not going to happen if you’re shaming men for having anything else besides stoicism or nonchalant attitudes towards different situations,” she said.

“It’s very refreshing to see men who are not so obsessed with appearing hyper-masculine or hyperstoic,” she said. Plenty of people seem to agree with her. Her recent video expressing her love of sassy men has gotten over 500,000 views.

Wondwossen, who boasts over 55,000 followers on Instagram, is frequently called ‘sassy’ due to his feisty attitude and snippy sense of humor. While he has learned to love being called sassy, he admitted that the term hasn’t always been directed at him in a positive way. He credits Mishra and others like him for putting an entirely new spin on what it means to be a sassy man.

“This moment that he’s [Mishra] created is really cool to see.” While he’s happy to see that TikTok has started to praise men for being sassy, he’s unsure if society is ready to follow suit. “The fact that men have built a world where we have to be super masculine isn’t really going to change all too much just because of this minor sassy movement,” he said.

“As a man, we’ve just seen a lot of, like, not the best role models on the internet,” he said. “And we need a man that’s more loving, that’s more positive, that’s more caring. I just think that everything happened at the right time, at the right place, for the right people to perceive it.”