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.

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.”

If Conservatives Want Stronger Marriages, They Should Look to Liberal Solutions

Conservative politicians are complaining about childless cat ladies, declining marriage rates, unstable families and single-parent households. Their strategy so far has been to ban abortion, offer families no real support, do nothing to help struggling Americans find greater financial stability, promote a deeply misogynistic worldview to young men, and then yell at young women that they need to get married and have babies. Shockingly, this is not working very well.

On the other side, liberals have de-emphasized marriage and the nuclear family as the primary organizing unit for society, while offering women and men alike more choices about when, how, and if to start families, and more support if they do. And while marriage and childbearing rates are down generally, the prototypical Democratic voter—the college-educated woman working for pay in or near a large city in a blue state—is more likely to find herself in a happy, stable marriage than the prototypical Republican voter.

This isn’t a coincidence.

Harris Just Made Gender Visible in the 2024 Election—But It Was There All Along

Now that Joe Biden has announced his withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, the salience of gender as a critical factor in the contest for the presidency will rise quickly to the surface. But gender is always present in those campaigns—whether or not it’s visible.

Unfortunately, many commentators in mainstream and progressive media seem not to understand—or want to discuss—the deeply gendered nature of presidential campaigns or the presidency itself. This glaring deficit in political analysis was on full display in coverage last week of the Republican National Convention.

Trump Is Man in a Man’s World. The RNC Underscored That.

The GOP convention put on display the party’s version of masculinity that has shaped Trump’s time in the public eye, from his cultivated image as a playboy in New York to his campaigns for office.

“The idea of the president as the hypermasculine father protector figure has been with us since the start,” said Melissa Heldman, who has long studied masculinity in presidential politics. Trump’s brand of masculinity, she said, has been that of an aggressor and open bully more “than probably any previous president.”

What Do Tradwives Have to Do With Democracy?

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The tradwife movement is more than just eye-catching images of open land, barefoot kids, chickens and sourdough perfectly cultivated for an Instagram grid. It’s a cultural movement to influence young women to willingly check out of the workforce and give up their rights and agency.

And if progressives are too “burnt out” to check back in, these forces will win the culture war and the political movements to take away birth control, end no-fault divorce and take away a woman’s choice whether to go through with an unwanted pregnancy.

The Upcoming Presidential Debate Is Really a Masculinity Contest

The GOP and its mouthpieces in conservative media repeat constantly that Trump and MAGA are the natural home of “real men,” who are the only ones that have what it takes to protect and defend this country.

By contrast, Biden embodies a wonkish, managerial masculinity that is calm, measured and empathetic. But that matters very little in terms of how he will be judged on his debate performance. What will matter is his energy level. His assertiveness and aggressiveness. The way he responds to Trump’s verbal aggression and bullying behavior. Whether or not he “scores points” in verbal repartee. In other words, the way he performs his “manhood.”

Southern Baptists Pursue a Mission of Misogyny

This weekend, thousands of Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) delegates will assemble in Indianapolis, and one of the most misogynistic gatherings in all of Christendom will be on display. With 13 million members, the Southern Baptist Convention is the largest Protestant faith group in the country. Considered as a bellwether for white evangelicals, and enmeshed with the Republican Party, the SBC carries an outsized influence disproportionate to its numbers.

When you combine the SBC’s misogynistic, authoritarian theology, which relegates females to second-class status, with an institutional structure lacking in effective accountability systems, you wind up with an institution in which abuse can run rampant.