Author: Rob Okun

Rob Okun (rob@voicemalemagazine.org), syndicated by PeaceVoice, is editor emeritus of Voice Male, a magazine. that for more than three decades has been chronicling the antisexist men’s movement. He is editor of the anthology, Voice Male: The Untold Story of the Profeminist Men’s Movement. He writes about politics and culture.

Donald Trump Rides Patriarchy Back to the White House

Feminism simply denotes believing in the political, economic and social equality of the sexes—yet Trump and his allies viciously demeaned it at every turn.

White male supremacy, which Trump ran on, continues to play an outsized role in exacerbating the divide that afflicts our nation. While not widely understood, men, too, are damaged by patriarchy; it diminishes us, undermines our humanity.

To bridge our political, cultural and gender chasm, we’ll need to recognize what the election reflected: Patriarchy’s grip and the assault on feminism are two sides of the same coin. It’s on us now to make that part of the national conversation. There’s a lot of work to do. One take-away from the Harris campaign still rings true: “We’re not going back.”

The ‘New’ Masculinity Is Actually 50 Years Old

Since the presidential campaign shake-up in July, the national conversation about manhood has been abuzz with talk of a “new” masculinity, embodied by good, decent men like Tim Walz and Doug Emhoff. What’s actually new, though, is what’s coming into focus: the consequences of 50 years of men’s hard work to redefine manhood.

A growing number of men across all races and ethnicities have followed women in working to prevent domestic and sexual violence, protect reproductive rights and redefine and transform traditional ideas about manhood, fatherhood and brotherhood. Men are rejecting a fixed definition of masculinity and replacing it with an emotionally rich expression of masculinities.

How ‘White Dudes’ May Reshape Manhood This Election

“It’s time for white men to have a Black woman’s back.”

Before more than 190,000 men joined a “White Dudes for Harris” call on July 29, the common wisdom in the media suggested that most white men support extreme right causes and candidates. Not so fast. “We’re taking white men back from the MAGA movement,” said Ross Morales Rocketto, a co-founder of White Dudes for Harris, at the start of a three-hour telethon that raised more than $4 million for Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign. “By our silence, we white men have allowed white nationalists to speak for us.”

Men and Mass Shootings 25 Years After Columbine

Fortunately, there wasn’t a copycat mass shooting on Saturday to grotesquely mark the 25th anniversary of the Columbine massacre on April 20, 1999. But just as we can be certain there will be another solar eclipse, it’s only a matter of time before a hail of bullets will block out the sun for another community somewhere in America. What’s also true? Expect the shooter to be male, probably white.

Will Men Organize to End Gun Violence?

It’s been six years since the Valentine’s Day massacre of 14 students and three teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., and gun violence remains as virulent a disease as ever, with regular new outbreaks in states across the country.

Like many debates about social conditions in the U.S., too many men remain silent, rarely weighing in, whether the issue is mass shootings, women’s reproductive rights or the climate emergency. What if, in this critically important election year, men organized themselves as men to speak out?

Bringing Domestic Violence Victims Back to Life

The first mass shooting of the modern era occurred in Austin, Texas, on Aug. 1, 1966. Before police killed him, Charles Whitman would be responsible for the murder of 17 and the wounding of 31. But the tower murders weren’t the beginning of the carnage.

The night before, while his mother and wife were sleeping, he had already stabbed them to death. Coverage of the campus massacre virtually eclipsed the women’s stories. But Unheard Witness: The Life and Death of Kathy Leissner Whitman, by Jo Scott-Coe, aims to change that.

A New Texas Two-Step for Uvalde and Beyond

One year after the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, officials are still ducking and weaving; still doing little to curb easy access to guns throughout the state. 

With mass shootings a weekly occurrence, we cannot overlook who the murderers are: almost exclusively white men. Men must join the movement to advance life-saving gun control measures. It is the least we can do to honor the memories of those murdered in Uvalde, and all the other victims and survivors of American gun violence.

Josh Hawley’s New Book on Manhood Is Wrong on Everything, Everywhere, All at Once

Ideas about men and manhood have been evolving for more than 50 years, but Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) has not gotten the message. His new book, Manhood: Finding Purpose in Faith, Family, and Country ignores the realities of today’s men—more and more of whom are abandoning traditional expressions of masculine culture. Support among younger men for women’s reproductive rights, for gay and trans rights, for voting rights, is especially on the rise.

Fifty years ago, Hawley may have sold a lot of books. Today, I’m betting they’ll be remaindered by the Fourth of July.