Masculinity has been a hotly debated topic between both the right and the left over the last few years, with identity politics being more openly discussed in both the media and by the general public than ever before. Most people nowadays are either trying to understand their own identities, or the identities of others, as many are now being more informed about the correct usage of pronouns, the various ways one can express their own gender identity, as well as the struggles being faced by marginalized communities based on their gender identities (women, transgender/non-binary individuals etc.) On the other side of the aisle, we see those who often dismiss these new ideas regarding identity as not only ridiculous, but as dangerous, as these non-traditional ideas regarding gender roles, gender identity and feminism are a threat to traditional family values and the structure of the nuclear family. In reading through mainstream media’s discussion of the topic of identity, more specifically masculinity, we see that both the right and the left have strong ideas of what is and is not masculine, as well as what it means to be a man.
In left-wing mainstream media, we see articles most-often depicting how gender roles and masculinity are often toxic and lead to many issues not only for men to face, but those around them to face, as well. In most of these articles, the left are writing about the views of the right. In the GOP’s Masculinity Panic, Sean Illing interviews David French (a conservative commentator). When asked about French’s thoughts on the left’s stance concerning masculinity and manhood, French replied with, “The American Psychological Association, back in late 2018, early 2019, put out these guidelines for psychological practice with boys and men. Essentially, what it says is traditional masculinity is harmful, and this is one of the ways that a person defined it on their website: that traditional masculinity, marked by stoicism, competitiveness, dominance, and aggression, is on the whole harmful. The guidelines themselves say that traditional masculinity ideology — which is defined with socializing boys toward anti-femininity, achievement, eschewal of appearance of weakness, and adventure, risk, and violence — limits their psychological development. I have real problems with that formulation.” (Illing, p. 8) Here, we see French offer his opinion regarding psychological research being done on how traditional masculinity can be harmful. Though French disagrees with the findings of said research, we see that he can see how there could be harm in the teachings of traditional masculinity. Later in the same article, French offers, “Now, there are some characteristics in there that they mention, like dominance, that are, I think, actually problematic in almost all forms. Or “anti-femininity” — I’m not even sure exactly what that means, it might be a “you know it when you see it.” But other things such as achievement, stoicism — I mean, believe you me, there are times in life when stoicism is an absolute virtue, especially in times of crisis. Going back to my military experience — I served with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment — and I saw men react in moments of incredible crisis with an unbelievable degree of calm. That was a virtue. Aggression can be virtuous, or it can be deeply problematic. These things are characteristics, not vices, by and large. So what does a healthy masculinity do? It channels these characteristics toward virtue and away from vice. Not to get too stereotypical, but that’s essentially what you’re talking about when you’re talking about, say, how a Marine Corps boot camp turns a boy into a man.” (Illing, p. 10) Here, French offers more on why he believes that masculinity is an important virtue and is necessary in order to protect oneself and others in times of crisis. This article exemplifies how the left seems to be at least willing to have some sort of open dialogue with members of the opposite party/those who hold opposing views, with the Illing and French seeming to reach some sort of common ground throughout the interview. In What Makes a Man? Across Generations, Photographers Have Provided Eclectic Answers, an article focusing on how photography, art and fashion have allowed men to define their own masculinity, Allyssia Alleyne writes, “On the red carpet and in magazine pages, it’s impossible to ignore the wave of men disregarding stereotypes of masculinity, from Harry Styles’ outing as the boy with the pearl earring at the 2019 Met Gala to Pharrell Williams donning a down-filled Moncler gown by Valentino on the cover of GQ.” (Alleyne, p. 2) Here, we see Alleyne detail how masculinity is viewed through the lens of both pop-culture and fashion, explaining male celebrities’ fashion statements breaking through traditional male stereotypes at a major, widely-covered fashion event. Later, in the article, Alleyne says, “This seems to be the message at the heart of “Masculinities” — that even among those grouped together, the masculine experience has always been as multifaceted and malleable as any other marker of identity.” (Alleyne, p. 21) Here, we see that Alleyne believes that, through mainstream media, showing how the “masculine experience” is different for everyone and that barriers are being broken because of this, many men are now feeling that they are able to express themselves outwardly. In a Buzzfeed article, Men Are Sharing “Traditionally Masculine” Things They Actually Hate, And They’re Proving That Toxic Gender Roles Don’t Just Harm Women, Maya Ogolini compiles various experiences submitted by men explaining how mainstream masculinity has affected them/made them feel ridiculous for seemingly no reason. Individuals submitted posts such as, “Not showing emotions. If I want to cry, I’m going to cry without being worried that I’m less ‘manly’ because of it.” (Ogolini, p. 43) As well as, “That a man should have a woman cook. I find cooking to be insanely therapeutic and a fun activity. It’s a perfect ‘effort being directly proportional to reward’ activity, and I love it.” (Ogolini, p. 49 ) Here, we see further that the left are often reaching out to others to share their own lived experience. These individuals who are masculine-identifiying are not only sharing their own stories, but attempting to share with others how traditional masculine views have caused them to practice activities or hold values that they don’t necessarily subscribe to and are, perhaps, attempting to convince others of that fact that that these behaviors, activities and thoughts are not necessary in order to be viewed as and to feel masculine. Lastly, in The ‘alt-right’ is Fueled by Toxic Masculinity — and Vice Versa, David Futrelle exemplifies how right-wing mainstream media often uses fear tactics and xenophobia to further spread their views about masculinity. Futrelle writes, “Xenophobia and sexual anxiety have long gone hand in hand. In the 19th and 20th centuries, for instance, American racists played upon fears of white women being raped to stoke hatred of African-Americans — and provide convenient excuses for countless lynchings of black men by the Klan. Contemporary xenophobes have also raised the specter of rape: Trump famously began his presidential campaign by demonizing Mexican immigrants as rapists; the European right attacks Muslim refugees as ‘rapefugees’ preying upon white women. In his manifesto, the Christchurch shooter railed against what he sees as an epidemic of ‘rape and molestation perpetrated by these non-white scum.’ But many men in the ‘alt-right’ seem more concerned about a different sort of sexual threat from these ‘invaders,’ worrying less about rape than about white women choosing to have sex (and possibly children) with ‘alpha males’ who aren’t white. No wonder the conservative Gateway Pundit, in the midst of the caravan panic last fall, couldn’t stop referring to the would-be ‘invaders’ as ‘military-aged virile males.’” (Futrelle, p. 4) As we see here, Futrelle manages to boil down right-wing agendas regarding masculinity, race, sexuality and their views on women by explaining the party’s long-time use of fear-mongering and racial descrimination as an attempt to steer white women away from men these alt-right, white men believe to be a danger or threat to American ideals and family values. In his article, Futrelle is using alt-right thoughts as a springboard to explain how, though these men believe certina groups to be dangerous, they themselves (white, cisgender men) are often more statistically dangerous than any other group.
In terms of how the mainstream right-wing media approaches the subject of masculinity, they are often quite critical towards left-leaning media, deeming the openness and progressiveness of most liberals to be dangerous, as well as a threat to traditional family values. In Ingraham: Where Have All the Men Gone?, Jeff Field recounts a broadcast where Fox news broadcaster Laura Ingraham discusses the issue of deeming masculinity to be “toxic,” as well as how dangerous it could be to live in a world where men are not traditionally masculine. Ingraham states, “The radical left’s goal, she said, is to ‘destroy the underpinnings of the nuclear family’ by launching attacks against the traditional roles played by mothers and fathers. Ingraham, a single parent herself, said it is ideal for children to be raised by both a father and mother who are present, noting that despite trying their best, raising children is much harder on single parents. ‘Somehow this idea of traditional roles is threatening to the radicals who see the traditional family—especially traditional men—as an impediment to socialism and a rewriting of American history,” she argued. Ingraham named Black Lives Matter and Hollywood among the groups seeking to destroy the nuclear family, calling out the latter for often portraying male protagonists as ‘helpless goofballs or gender fluid geniuses.’ Ingraham’s message to Hollywood is that women, in fact, want men to be men—the type who will protect, provide and defend.” (Jeff Field, p. 5) Here, it is made clear that the right-wing media is focusing primarily on how, due to masculinity no longer being traditional, that men are no longer men and that if men want to be able to be with women/find a female partner and have/raise their children, men need to conform to traditional standards of masculinity. Not only this, but Ingraham appears to be suggesting that single parents (mothers, especially) are unable to properly raise their children without a father (one who subscribes to the idea of being a traditionally masculine man) in the home. We also see Ingraham relating unrelated movements such as Black Lives Matter to masculinity and parenting, with her stating that this movement along with the entirety of Hollywood is seeking to destroy the nuclear family. To expand further on how liberal ideas regarding masculinity are dangerous to American families and the space that traditionally masculine men already occupy in society, Further Thoughts on Masculinity by Jack Butler states, “What is needed for men to grow up, he argues, is ‘space’ for men ‘to develop their virtues.’ A male ‘must be given the chance to discipline the world around him, to explore the environment he finds himself in, to take dominion of the matter at hand in ways all his own.’ This seems like a tall task (and a presumptuous one) for anyone, to say nothing of someone in the process of maturation. But it doesn’t matter; according to Meadowcroft, this is virtually impossible now anyway. Liberalism has ‘closed all the frontiers, both physical and spiritual’ once conducive to masculine virtue, leaving us with nothing but ‘this enormous managerial machine we call America today.’” (Butler, p. 3) Butler is perhaps suggesting here that America, due to its ever-evolving ideology regarding identity, is seeming to police the bodies and behaviors of men around the country. In allowing transgender individuals to physically transition to a body which matches their gender identity, many transgender individuals appear to be “sacrificing” their “manhood” in doing so. Progressive, left-wing media appears to be the target of attack in most articles and media when speaking on the topic of the policing of ideologies held by right-wing media, as these are the people who seem to be almost “brainwashing” men into no longer being men (in the eyes of conservatives). In America Needs a Few Good Men, Everett Piper writes about how left-wing media encourages the emasculation of men and argues against seeking help through means of therapy, “[…] The Guardian’s Arwa Mahdawi, is one example. In her “The Week in Patriarchy,” she conceded that American men are in crisis but then argued that those who embrace traditional masculinity ‘are worse off than the men who don’t.’ Her reasoning? Well, apparently, males who conform to historical gender roles are much less interested in psychological services than those who do not. One has to wonder how Ms. Mahdawi misses the obvious: Perhaps the reason traditional men don’t seek therapy as frequently as those emasculated by her progressive pablum is because they don’t need it.” (Piper, p. 8) Piper goes on to say, “The Washington Post’s Paul Waldman piled on by calling for Mr. Hawley to support ‘adequate child care’ if the senator truly believes in helping young boys grow up to become responsible adults. We can only assume that by ‘child care,’ Mr. Waldman means the kind of ‘care’ foisted upon us by an overbearing government as opposed to the care given by a responsible father. You know, the kind of ‘care’ brought courtesy of LBJ’s Great Society; the kind of ‘care’ that resulted in more devastation to the Black family than anything Bull Connor could have ever dreamed of; you know, that kind of ‘care.’ In 1960, only 10% of children were raised without a father in the home. Today, the number is 40% and climbing. It is 70% within the Black community. Half of last year’s births among millennials were to unwed mothers, and just shy of 50% of this same group now reports that they don’t believe a child needs both a father and a mother to grow up happy.” (Piper, p. 9) Once again, we see right-wing media arguing that to be masculine and a traditional man is to not “need” therapy and to be emasculated by the notion that one would need it at all. We also see Piper demonstrating that, in order to be a responsible father, one must be the sole provider and that accepting help from an “overbearing government” and their services is not masculine. Lastly, in the War on Masculinity Will End Badly by J.B. Shurk, Shurk suggests even in the title of his article that, to begin with, there is a war being waged on masculinity and that liberal left-wing progressives are the ones waging said war. Shurk states, “Every sexual orientation and gender-bending self-idolization is encouraged and celebrated as some magical, revelatory personal truth. For men, however, everything about their nature must be denied. Young boys play-fighting are punished. Aggression is labeled ‘toxic.’ Competition and rivalry are derided. When war comes, however — and it always does — Westerners won’t be praying for “men” in skinny jeans or recuperating from surgical castration to come to their rescue. They’ll be hoping that somehow, even after decades of enduring cultural emasculation from every angle, enough real men still exist to beat back with a vengeance whatever threat is charging forward from the horizon. When men whose masculinity has been harnessed for the benefit of their countries arrive to conquer those frivolous nations that have sidelined masculinity for metrosexualism, the West’s survival will depend upon how resilient manliness is despite the efforts of leaders such as Trudeau, Obama, Biden, Macron, and Johnson to remake their countries’ men into their own images.” (Shurk, p. 3) Shurk uses progressive men who have been/are in power as examples for those who he does not find to be masculine or manly, and who are clearly not effective leaders because of this. Shurk also appears to poke fun at progressives, making note of how real men do not wear skinny jeans, and instead are always ready to fight in an inevitable war that the rest of the country, women included, would cower from and hope that strong, capable men would be able to protect them from. Again, this piece of right-wing media focuses on the male body and the “surgical castration” that is done to men due to liberals brainwashing men and denying real men from the truth of their nature, which is to be aggressive, competitive, and stoic.
In terms of how left-wing and right-wing media in America approach the subject of masculinity, I feel that right-wing media is usually quite aggressive in defending their values and their views. It is clear that they base most of their reasoning for why men must maintain their traditional masculinity on their faith and family values. Katelyn Fossett explains this well in Why Republicans Can’t Stop Talking About Masculinity stating, “[…] this way of talking about masculinity has its roots in conservative evangelical spaces, but it’s going mainstream. Du Mez wrote a book last year called Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, about how the model of masculinity in evangelicalism went from emulating the qualities of Jesus to emulating those of the actor John Wayne, and how that has shaped culture and politics ever since.” (Fossett, p. 3) I found that most often, right-wing media would pit itself against the ideals of left-wing media and use their thoughts as a springboard to voice their own thoughts, which were usually backed by using some sort of fear mongering tactic. These tactics usually suggest that large groups of people are being brainwashed en masse to be transgender and alter their bodies, which will somehow lead to the downfall of America and the American nuclear family. I found that left-wing media was usually more willing to conduct interviews or crowdsource experiences from men who have lived through their own difficulties with being told to conform to a one-size-fits-all type of gender role/identity that they did not necessarily fit into, nor did they want to fit into. I feel that I land more on the left-wing side of the political spectrum, reading mostly from the websites that I’ve sourced here. I tend to read these news sources, simply because for the most part, I can follow their reasoning and logic even when I do not agree with what they are saying. However, I tend to not read too many right-wing media news sources because I do not feel that those writing these pieces are always remaining logical or using accurate facts to defend their statements. Though I usually agree with left-wing ideas, I also understand that progressive movements can be just as toxic as any other political space. In Toxic Masculinity is Also a Problem on the Left, Tiffany Diane Tso tells the story of a woman who has experienced harassment and doxxing online at the hands of white, liberal men who disagree with her political stance though both (she and these men) belong to the same political party, “A member of several online communities, Anne, who is biracial Indigenous Latinx, has experienced harassment and doxxing from “radical” white liberals after calling out some problematic posts (in one example, Anne says a Caucasian gay man in a community Facebook group derailed a conversation about Black reparations by suggesting that LGBTQ+ people should also be recipients). Identifying as a radical leftist herself, the pushback she’s gotten has been ‘largely from folks who want to ‘focus on class’ rather than racial justice issues,’ Anne says. ‘In leftist spaces, there’s also a huge issue with placing too much emphasis on class as opposed to understanding different intersections. Though the left is the party of reproductive freedom, immigrants’ rights, marriage equality and other social justice issues, many within will vocalize their disdain for those who focus on confronting racism, misogyny and other identity-related issues rather than widespread economic restructuring or pursuing rural white swing voters. Many of these same people blame ‘identity politics’ for Trump’s election and the Democratic Party’s failures.’” (Tso, p. 7) Here, Tso helps to identify that though the liberal party is usually open to new ideas and helping to progress our society along in new ways, there is still a problem with white men needing to be the center of progressive movements, as well as being the ones to decide where the movements are heading and what the central causes are that will be fought for, while women and other marginalized groups are cast to the side and silenced within their own party regarding issues that only they understand and face.
Overall, I would say that both parties make their stances very clear and use the other parties’ ideas to explain and defend their own. However, right-wing media is perhaps guilty of aggressively suggesting the brainwashing of men into no longer subscribing to traditional masculinity, though through left-wing media, we see that many of these men have already made the decision for themselves to decide what their own masculinity will look like to them. Through means of popular culture, fashion and art, we are seeing men embracing new forms of masculinity and challenging the idea of conformity and traditional manhood. However, even with this progressive outlook on what it means to be masculine seen as a positive by many left-wing liberals, right-wing conservatives will likely always see this as a threat to not only their values, but to their own masculinity as well.
Works Cited
Alleyne, A. (2020, February 20). What makes a man? across generations, photographers have provided eclectic answers. CNN. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from https://www.cnn.com/style/article/barbican-masculinity-exhibition-gender/index.html
Butler, J. (2021, November 19). Further thoughts on masculinity. National Review. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/further-thoughts-on-masculinity/
Field, J. (2021, December 4). Ingraham: Where have all the men gone? Fox News. Retrieved May 2, 2022, from https://www.foxnews.com/media/ingraham-where-have-all-the-men-gone
Fossett, K. (2021, November 21). Why Republicans can’t stop talking about masculinity. POLITICO. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/11/21/josh-hawley-madison-cawthorn-jd-vance-masculinity-523136
Futrelle, D. (2019, April 1). The ‘alt-right’ is fueled by toxic masculinity – and vice versa. NBCNews.com. Retrieved May 2, 2022, from https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/alt-right-fueled-toxic-masculinity-vice-versa-ncna989031
Illing, S. (2022, January 5). The GOP’s masculinity panic. Vox. Retrieved May 2, 2022, from https://www.vox.com/vox-conversations-podcast/22834353/vox-conversations-david-french-republican-party-trump-masculinity
Ogolini, M. (2022, February 17). Men share “traditionally masculine” things they hate, proving that toxic gender roles harm everyone. BuzzFeed. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from https://www.buzzfeed.com/mayaogolini/men-share-masculine-behaviors-they-hate
Piper, E. (2021, November 13). America needs a few good men. The Washington Times. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/nov/13/america-needs-a-few-good-men/
Shurk, J. B. (2021, October 2). The war on masculinity will end badly. American Thinker. Retrieved May 2, 2022, from https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/10/the_war_on_masculinity_will_end_badly.html
Tso, T. D. (2020, June 15). Toxic masculinity is also a problem on the left. PAPER. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from https://www.papermag.com/toxic-masculinity-left-wing-2640557494.html?rebelltitem=8#rebelltitem8