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.

The New Misogyny, Violent Extremism and What It Will Take to Stop It: RSVP for a Live Conversation (Online or in L.A.; Wednesday, Feb. 18)

PUBLISHED 1/24/2026 by

Across ideologies, the clearest and most consistent predictor of mass shootings is not political extremism alone—it is rising gendered grievances, patriarchal backlash, and perpetrators’ histories of gender-based violence and misogyny.

That is the focus of Miller-Idriss’ groundbreaking new book, Man Up: The New Misogyny and the Rise of Violent Extremism.

On Feb. 18, 2026, Miller-Idriss and Ms. executive editor Kathy Spillar will explore how misogyny fuels radicalization, how gender-based grievances are weaponized by extremist movements, and why confronting patriarchy is essential to preventing future violence. Join us in person or online.

I Grew Up Wanting to Be Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I’m Coming of Age Under Trump.

PUBLISHED 1/19/2026 by

As a 17-year-old, marking one full year since Donald Trump’s inauguration, I have now spent half my life under his administration. I am growing into adulthood in a world where I may have to travel across state lines for an abortion; where I’ll be penalized more for my gender than men are penalized for their misconduct; where the very leaders meant to protect my rights are actively stripping them away. 

The Trump Administration’s Full-Throated Misogyny

PUBLISHED 1/15/2026 by

“Disrespectful. “Fucking bitch.” “AWFUL (Affluent White Female Urban Liberal).”

These are just a few of the insults hurled publicly at Minneapolis mother and wife Renee Nicole Good after immigration agent Jonathan Ross shot and killed her in broad daylight last week. In an effort to deflect and redirect blame, President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem are among the administration officials who took to the airwaves to degrade and ridicule Good, their claims ricocheting across the MAGA echo chamber.

The only civilized political response should have been a call for an independent investigation, but it seems like every MAGA with a mic is hellbent on making this a cautionary tale: Women who respond to and resist the authority of a man with a gun will get exactly what they deserve. “Fucking bitch,” possibly muttered by Ross as he let bullets fly (caught on air thanks to real-time video footage), is perhaps the most grotesque case in point.

Hockey’s Cultural Renaissance Can’t Ignore Domestic Violence

PUBLISHED 1/13/2026 by and

HBO’s recent juggernaut, Heated Rivalry, has blasted to the front of seemingly everyone’s consciousness over the last few months. While the press tour of the two lead actors promoting the show is, in a word, delightful, the attention being paid to fictional hockey players’ relationships off-the-ice is, unfortunately, a stark reminder of the reality of the state of gender-based violence in the sport.

Countless players for the National Hockey League (NHL), as well as the junior and minor leagues, have been accused of domestic and sexual violence. Yet many of those same players are retained on lucrative professional and semiprofessional contracts, and some have been able to keep playing even while under investigation for criminal sexual and domestic assault.

The NHL remains the only of the four major professional sports leagues (which also includes the NFL, NBA and MLB) that lacks a formal and specific domestic violence policy when players are accused of sexual or domestic violence.

What the Backlash Against Women’s Leadership Tells Us About Young Men

PUBLISHED 12/29/2025 by

At this year’s Reykjavík Global Forum in November, where 500 global leaders from public and private sectors convened in Iceland, the mood around gender equality was both urgent and reflective. Progress that once felt inevitable now looks fragile. The Reykjavík Index for Leadership reveals concerning declines in how women are perceived for leadership roles across major economies, while conversations about young men and boys have become more heated, polarized and emotionally charged.

While at the forum, I spoke with Richard Reeves, an author and researcher focused on boys and men, and Michelle Harrison, the founding force behind the Reykjavík Index for Leadership, about what’s really going on—and what comes next. Their insights help clarify the current backlash, the urgency of centering young people, and why gender equality must remain a shared project—one that includes all of us.

Two Mass Shootings, Two Countries—and Two Very Different Responses

PUBLISHED 12/18/2025 by

On Dec. 14, 2025, two tragedies unfolded on opposite sides of the world—each marked by gun violence and grief, yet met with starkly different national responses.

On the first night of Hanukkah, a gathering on Bondi Beach in Sydney, turned into horror when a father and son opened fire during a “Hanukkah by the Sea” celebration, killing 15 people and wounding 40 in what Australian authorities called an antisemitic terrorist attack. 

The day before in Providence, R.I., a shooter opened fire at Brown University during finals, killing two students and wounding nine.

These shootings—one at a beloved public beach, the other on an Ivy League campus—expose not only shared grief but radically different understandings of responsibility.

Making the Invisible Visible: How Misogyny Is Driving Rising Political Violence

PUBLISHED 12/4/2025 by

We have seen a rise in political assassinations and assassination attempts, along with violent extremist attacks that have ticked upward for years. Mass casualty plots in the U.S. have increased by over 2,000 percent since the 1990s, leading to the deaths or grievous injury of thousands of people in shootings at schools, grocery stores, theaters, parades, concerts, houses of worship and more.

In the search for explanations, the public and policy discourse is most often swept up in heated debates about far-left or far-right ideologies.

But the data shows that the biggest and clearest predictor of mass shootings, across ideologies, sits somewhere else: in rising gendered grievances, patriarchal backlash, and the perpetrators’ histories of gender-based violence and misogyny.

Six Ways Masculine Stereotypes Are Still Limiting Boys

PUBLISHED 11/24/2025 by

Rigid norms of manhood—based in manly confidence and toughness, emotional stoicism, disdain for femininity and dog-eat-dog banter—are influential among boys and young men.

Between one quarter and one half of boys and young men endorse these norms. Over half feel pressure from others to live up to them, believing most people expect them always to be confident, strong and tough.

These are some of the findings from a new Australian survey of adolescents aged 14-18 years, conducted by The Men’s Project at Jesuit Social Services.

In a climate of heightened concern about boys and young men and violent masculinity, this study provides invaluable data on boys’ and young men’s own views. This includes the pressures they feel to live up to stereotypical masculine norms and the profound impact of those beliefs.

Virginia Giuffre’s Posthumous Memoir Is an Indictment of the Men and Institutions That Enabled Her Abuse

PUBLISHED 11/20/2025 by

I thought I was mentally prepared to read Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s posthumous book, Nobody’s Girl. I was wrong. If reading the book was gut-wrenching, I can’t imagine what it was like for her and other girls and women who experience the horrors of being trafficked.

In the final paragraph of the book, and perhaps in some of the final sentences she ever wrote, Giuffre tells that she will have achieved her goal with Nobody’s Girl if “just one person” is moved to create “a world in which predators are punished, not protected; victims are treated with compassion, not shamed; and powerful people face the same consequences as everybody else.”

Although she never lived to see this day, her book, her courage and her rage compel us to fight for this goal in the name of all victims and survivors of sex trafficking.