It’s trendy these days to blame our problems on men– mass shootings, sexual assault, war. All of these, feminists say, can be traced back to what they call “toxic masculinity” – the infectious disease of maleness that we’ve let pervade society for far too long. Since, they purport, men are the common denominator in so many of the tragedies our country endures, they must be the root of our unrest.
In an effort to snuff out this male toxicity, Hollywood — our bastion of reason and morality — suggests that we emasculate men. Surely that will do the trick! After all, how many mass shooters, sexual harassers and rapists do you know who are eunuchs? Exactly. This explains why chauvinist-turned-Ghandi Jimmy Kimmel joked at the Oscars that “Oscar is the perfect man” because he has “no penis at all.” As the old saying goes, ‘if you can’t beat ‘em, castrate ‘em.’
Just days later, this was the cover of The Hollywood Reporter: Triump of the beta male.
Tongue-in-cheek or not, the underlying message from the entertainment industry is clear: maleness is the core of our trouble. If we had less of it, the world would be a better place. Take a look at a few of these recent headlines:
- Toxic Masculinity Deserves More Scrutiny As Factor in School Attacks, Researcher Says
- It's Time to Let Boys Be Girly
- How Gun Violence And Toxic Masculinity Are Linked, In 8 Tweets
- Only Queer Eye could make deconstructing toxic masculinity so much fun
Alright. We get it: men are bad. And, apparently, if men were just less masculine– weaker, more feminine, gentler – we wouldn’t have so many issues. And, really, except for being contradicted by every piece of factual data in existence, the theory is flawless.
What these man-hating, virtue-signaling, third-wave feminist whitewashed tombs don’t realize is: it’s not masculinity that’s the problem, it’s a lack of masculinity. It’s not male strength that’s the base of our issues, it’s male weakness.
Confident, self-assured men – the kind our society needs – don’t rape women. They don’t harass their female employees. Brave men don’t bully their peers. Strong men don’t shoot up schools. They don’t patronize or hurt others to prove their masculinity.
Weak, insecure ones do.
That’s why 26 out of the last 27 deadliest mass shooters were fatherless. That’s why boys who grow up in single-mother homes are twice as likely to commit crimes than those who grow up with a present dad. That’s why both sons and daughters are more likely to become depressed without a strong relationship with their father. That’s why 71% of high school dropouts are fatherless.
Not because they had too much male strength in their lives, but because they didn’t have enough.
If masculinity were truly toxic, then wouldn’t boys and girls who grow up without dads be happier and healthier? If it were better that men were more like women, wouldn’t kids be just as content with a mom than with having a father, too?
Like it or not, masculinity — in its best, strongest form — is the kingpin of the family. Humble, strong leadership as expressed by a father is simply not, in most cases, adequately replaced by a mother. Those without a strong father tend to act out in aggression in their adolescent and adult years– not because they’re oversaturated with maleness, but because they’re starving for it.
The void caused by fatherlessness, along with its consequential damage, should be a pretty good indication that it’s not less or weaker men that we need, but more strong ones. If the family deteriorates because of a lack of a strong male figure, doesn’t it follow that society, too, falls apart without strong, honorable men?
If we know that kids who grow up without dads are more likely to be a threat to themselves and to others, shouldn’t we be trying to save masculinity, rather than kill it?
Unfortunately, as logical as it may seem, that line of thinking is seen as radical to the Left, who are working hard towards their dystopian future, where humanity is nothing more than an amorphous, genderless blob of nihilistic relativism. The idea of “traditional family values” doesn’t exactly fit into their plans.
The simple truth is: we need good men. We need strong dads. We need loyal brothers and friends. We need them to be protective. We need them to work hard. We need them to care. We need them to be present. We need them to stand up for us. We need them to hold it together. We need all of the things that feminists swear we don’t. We need honest, self-sacrificing, servant-leader, and — yes — Christlike men. We need them, and we women need to raise, encourage and affirm them into existence. (I made a quite controversial video about this once.)
I don’t mean that women can’t be these things, too; I believe in the power and purpose of strong women. Anyone who knows how outspoken and career-minded I am, and that I don’t take well to being patronized. The necessity of masculinity has nothing to do with diminishing the strength of women– it has to do with complementing and bolstering it.
Masculine strength comes in many forms, and in its truest, it loves, protects, serves, works, builds and fortifies in a way that only it can.
Let’s encourage that masculinity rather than shaming it into nonexistence. Our future as a society literally depends on it.