Each obstacle in life provides an insight into the person you truly are. With such scrutiny into what constitutes manhood in the modern age, and to the obverse, what is a failing of manhood, I find myself questioning whether my fellow gentlemen devote as much time as I do, trying to fashion what constitutes ‘manliness’. My interest in the subject is political, rather than social; a self-acknowledged privilege of my sex and gender.
There is much to be said about the everyday overbearing male citizen, in the lives and spaces of his female counterparts, but the essence of this behavior is exemplified in the movements and groups that spawn from what is, fundamentally, a psychological insecurity materializing into instability. The hatred of women is the oldest prejudice; one must only read a holy book to know this. Therefore, is the salience of the debate merely the dying thrashes of obsolete etiquette, or is something heightening the prominence at this moment?
The first semblance of power is physical; the world belongs to the barbarous brute until he is restrained by the cooperative strength of the masses. The second semblance is economic, and there is still much work to do on this front. So when civilized men of law are made powerless by the economic vacuity of their chaotic confines, they will all too often pivot to savagery. This is the embryo of Fascism.
Find it in Raqqa, Birstall, Charlottesville, and Ottawa; masculinity is not inherently toxic, it is inflamed or infected by circumstance. The rising misuse of opioids, male suicide, and right-wing extremism is indicative of the society that permits the fetishization and dominance of economic power. When a reactionary asks: ‘Why aren’t men, men anymore?’ – Ask: Why can’t you afford a home anymore; why can’t one support a child anymore; and, why can’t I afford the education and healthcare necessary for me to improve my lot in life?
All this precariousness is set against the canvass of unproductive extravagance and obscene wealth; of Kardashians, of Bezos, and of Donald Trump.
It will stand to be another fine irony of history that the President, elected by these exact insecurities and vulnerabilities, is not only a symptom of the initial crisis in economy, but that he too is the embodiment of the crisis in masculinity which has resulted. He is the Alpha and Omega President. He represents the power of structured class interest, and the powerlessness of unsure, male victimhood. This is the elixir of toxic masculinity. The self-persuasion of persecution; the belief that ‘I’ would be in a better position if it were not for the women, the Jews, the blacks, the media, the refugees, or any other scapegoat identifiable to the meek megalomaniac.
Explanations like these do not absolve personal responsibility. I do not wish to make the case that ‘boys will be boys’ if we’re not spoon-fed our necessities and desires. I intend to only highlight the economic materialist nature of our societal woes.
The tides of history will continue to refine civility furthermore, and only with the democratization of our economy will we be able to better temper the caprice and callousness of the billionaire, just as we have done with the brute.
