Masculinity

Masculinity is not inherently toxic, but a misogynistic culture creates expectations for men and boys to be violent and sexist, leading to issues of sexual violence and gun violence. This tag includes stories of masculinity in all its forms, including masculinity as healthy or fluid.

‘When Power Curdles Into Violence’: Escaping the Tradwife Lifestyle

Brides shouldn’t be thinking about homework just before their wedding day. But when I entered into an arranged marriage with a 28-year-old stranger, I was still just a 17-year-old girl who loved her private British school and her books and cricket—and so I found myself thinking about a creative-writing assignment I had recently finished. I’d written a story about a young woman who wore jewelry in the shapes of snakes. I wrote that they suddenly came to life and they slithered up to her throat, strangling her. 

As someone who was forced into a life I never chose, I am appalled that women, who are more empowered than ever, are effectively choosing a life without choice—putting themselves in a prison of their own making.

Thought-Provoking, Policy-Changing and Narrative-Shifting: Ms. Magazine’s 10 Most Impactful Print Articles of 2024

Ms. spurred thought-provoking, policy-changing, narrative-shifting change in 2024—and created new feminist strategies and solutions for the year ahead. In a word: “impact.” Ms. commissioned high profile analysis and investigative journalism by some of feminism’s best journalists and thinkers, focusing on key issues impacting women and girls at a critical moment across the globe. Here are the Ms. editors’ top 10 impact articles in the past year, as seen in the print magazine.

(Join the Ms. community today and you’ll get the issues delivered straight to your mailbox.)

White Men Elected Donald Trump, Again

Male grievance, especially white male grievance, is the beating heart of Trumpist populism.

Kamala Harris ran a truly impressive campaign under extraordinarily difficult circumstances. It would be reductive and absurd to say that her campaign’s decision not to put her on The Joe Rogan Experience is why she lost. But it does point to a Democratic Party mindset that needs to change.  

If Democrats want to win future presidential elections, they need to communicate more effectively with men, including blue-collar white men and young men of all ethnic and racial backgrounds, whose vote for Trump was less a vote for his policies or against those of Kamala Harris than it was the loudest and angriest statement they could make that we still matter. 

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.”

Harris Campaign’s Message to Women: Vote Your Consciences

Even as one of their own vies to be the first female president, even with abortion rights high on the list of campaign issues, even after more than a century of suffrage, some women still look to their husbands and other trusted men before casting their ballots.

The phenomenon is not new, but it could make the difference in a presidential race that is projected to be unusually tight. And because polls predict what could be a record-setting gender gap—with the majority of women voting for Harris and most men backing former President Donald Trump—the possibility that even a small number of women will vote like their men has Harris supporters nervous.

New Ad Creates ‘Permission Structure’ for Men to Support Harris

Among the most memorable ads of the political season are a pair of 30-second spots with explicitly gendered themes featuring voiceovers from two of America’s most beloved movie stars. The ads each play on the idea of “permission structures,” the assumption that voters sometimes need to be given permission to vote for a candidate or party that is not popular with their social group.

During this election cycle, Democrats and Democratic-aligned groups seem finally to have figured out that they need to respond, in part by creating a special kind of permission structure for men to support them. Permission for men to vote for their values and conscience just might make a difference in what promises to be a very close election.

The ‘Pro-Life’ Party Has a Funny Way of Respecting Women

Tony Hinchcliffe’s categorically unfunny appearance at Donald Trump’s recent rally in Madison Square Garden leaves me wishing that whoever discovered him left him sleeping in his car behind The Comedy Store in Los Angeles. (It’s how he opens the 12-minute set.)

Most of the ensuing backlash targeted Hinchcliffe’s puerile reliance on racism as humor. But another underreported moment that caught my attention was Hinchcliffe’s “joke” about Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce becoming “the next O.J. Simpson,” referencing Nicole Brown Simpson’s murder, widely believed to be the responsibility of her known abuser.

The joke hinges on the idea that Kelce might murder his girlfriend, Taylor Swift. Hinchcliffe referenced Swift’s political endorsement of Kamala Harris immediately after this joke. His punchline: If a woman voices her opinion, intimate partner violence is a hilarious solution. It’s an interesting stance for the so-called pro-life party to broadcast publicly.

Michelle Obama to Men: Take Our Lives Seriously

In her first appearance on the campaign trail since her electric speech at the Democratic National Convention, former First Lady Michelle Obama pleaded directly with men to take women’s lives seriously this election.

“To the men who love us … I am asking you from the core of my being to take our lives seriously. Do not put our hands in the lives of politicians—mostly men—who have no clue or do not care about what we as women are going through.”

Feminist Future, or Return of the Strongman? The Young Men’s Vote and the Fate of the Nation

The political commentariat has paid more attention to gender during this campaign cycle—especially masculinity—than ever before.

The roots of this gap preceded Trump’s entrance into presidential politics, but the larger-than-life presence of the misogynous and bombastic blue-collar billionaire has widened and deepened the gap into a chasm. It’s especially notable among 18-29 year-old voters, where a recent Harvard poll showed a 30 point difference between young women and men’s support for Harris.

As we get closer to Election Day, a key question for Democrats is whether Democratic-aligned organizations, and the Harris-Walz campaign itself, can provide substantive policy proposals—like support for entrepreneurship, funding for technical colleges and job training, marijuana decriminalization and “freedom” messaging on abortion rights—and stronger, more assertive messaging that speaks directly to young men.