The paper presents Spanish linguistic expressions from online dating personal ads posted by heterosexuals, which are instantiations of the metaphor GENDER IS A PERFORMANCE. The author uses Critical Metaphor Analysis (Charteris-Black 2004) trying to determine the ideological motivations of ad posters in their use of the conceptual metaphor and to determine the rhetorical value of its use in this specific context. Thought the analysis it is revealed that gender is a prototypical category and that the metaphor allows ad posters to express/sell themselves as the prototype of this category, which in turn helps the re-creation of traditional ideologies about gender, and further promotion of heteronormativity.