Patrick Bateman: The Sigma Man's False Idol

Since its release on the silver screen in 2000, American Psycho’s Patrick Bateman has been a poster boy for coolness among many aspirational men. He sits comfortably in the “He’s so me” Hall of Fame next to Jordan Belfort from Wolf of Wall Street (2013), Tyler Durden from Fight Club (1999), and Joker from Joker (2019). For more than two decades, men have strived to copy Bateman’s lifestyle, from tailored Armani and Valentino suits, classic Rolex Datejust watches, down to the meticulous 10-step skincare routine. If Dorsia weren’t a fictional restaurant, they’d probably kill for a reservation there, too. 

In case you didn’t know, Patrick Bateman is this late-1980s Wall Street investment banker who has an unhealthy obsession with gaining status over his peers. He lived a life of materialism and later abandons all sense of decorum and morality in the empty pursuit of it. In fact, he’s so hyper-fixated on trivial appearances that he began murdering people who do not live up to his standards, or those who threaten his internalized feelings of superiority. Early this year, the cult-favorite character questionably re-emerged into the cultural zeitgeist. Here we go again. 

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Bateman has become the aesthetic king for men who identify themselves as ‘Sigma males’. You know the type. The highly individualistic bro who thinks he’s above the traditional male hierarchy. They claim to be non-conformist, but in reality, they still play right into the social politics of the patriarchy. Basically, sigma males are just alpha males who are less forward about their superiority complex. A wolf in sheep’s clothing, if you will. 

What seems to completely fly over people’s heads is that Bateman makes a mockery of the type of man they are trying to be. Christian Bale’s iconic portrayal paints a picture of a man with a deeply misplaced sense of identity. One perfect example of this is the business card scene, which has been referenced to high heavens in pop culture.

In the scene, Bateman shows off his newly minted business cards, soaking in the glory from the impressed reactions of his cohorts. That is, until everyone at the table starts presenting their own cards, and he realizes that the color and typeface of his card don’t look as fancy as the others. For a man so attuned to his sense of power and bravado, it’s ironic that he breaks into a sweat every time someone gets ahead of him.

What’s even more comical about this is that the cards are nearly identical to each other, which is representative of their owners. At their cores, they are the same men, working the same job, in the same office, wearing the same suits, and donning the same hairstyles. It says a lot about male conformity. These supposed Sigma male characters are so centered on their self-interests, so hungry for that top-ladder status, that they have become almost interchangeable. This is also why the film has a running theme of characters—Bateman, especially—getting mistaken for other people. 

It’s not really that hard to understand why real men are attracted to this ideal. We get the appeal. Bateman is handsome, charming (when he’s not trying to butcher you with an axe), and most of all, he lives a lavish life that many people can only dream of having. It’s that ‘get jacked, get money, get women’ philosophy. The Sigma male grind-set.

Even if you discount his insatiable bloodlust, Patrick Bateman is hardly an ideal role model. This one-dimensional, misanthropic dude who, despite all his desperate efforts, remained so unremarkable that even his crimes were largely ignored by society? Really? If anything, he’s emblematic of the reason American Psycho remains terrifyingly relevant in today’s social landscape.

The glorification of a character who’s notoriously misogynistic and fragile in his masculinity is telling of the times we live in. “Chill out, he’s just fiction.” Totally! Until he’s not. If you’ve been on the internet lately, then you might’ve noticed a trend of misogynistic influencers whose male supremacist opinions rack up millions of views on social media. 

There’s a reason why the likes of Andrew Tate are banned from almost all major social media platforms. Prior to being de-platformed, the self-labeled “success coach” made extreme statements against women, likening them to property and saying rape victims must “bear responsibility” for their attacks. He’s the bottom-of-the-barrel kind of horrible, alright.

There’s a clear pipeline that connects the romanticization of the Sigma male persona to misogynist content and eventually, systemic channels of hate. And it goes without saying that it’s a slippery slope that leads to an end result we don’t want to see. It’s easy to dismiss these jokes as sh*tposting, but the message behind them echoes the wider sexist view of society. So maybe it’s time we worry more about it and stop putting chauvinists on pedestals.