Men are not ‘toxic,’ the left’s message on masculinity and gender roles is: Josh Hawley
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., American swimmer Riley Gaines and more discuss the importance of masculinity in American society.
"Masculinity" has become a dirty word to some. The American Psychological Association has released guidelines calling traditional masculinity "harmful," and Hollywood has been open about its disdain, with movies such as last weekend's much-hyped "Barbie."
According to a recent Politico/Ipsos poll, 36% of Americans believe "entertainment and culture make it hard to feel proud to be a traditional guy." Similarly, 31% believe the Democrat Party is "hostile" to masculine values.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., has been vocal on the topic, and told Fox News Digital American men have lost their way due to a combination of factors: the rapid advent of technology bringing comfort and complacency, the outsourcing of American jobs thanks to policymakers in Washington D.C., and the shrill progressive narrative that men are "oppressors."
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"I just think the message that the left has sent men in this country for decades now is that they're trash. I mean, that's a literal quote from a leftist professor. Men are trash," Hawley said.
"I think too many men have heard that message for too long and believed it in one form or another," he added.
The recent blockbuster "Barbie" calls out stereotypical masculinity in society. (Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures)
The portrayal of men in the Barbie" movie is just one example of this.
"It's pretty clear that the media views masculinity in only two ways: stupid or toxic," comedian Tim Young told Fox News Digital. "Like Barbieland, the concept of equality between men and women according to the media is fictional - and where there could be a chance to have everyone get along, their spin on things is to be divisive and put down men."
"The funny thing is, they'll also be the first to scream that you're misogynist or toxically masculine if you point out that they hate men in the ‘Barbie’ movie. There's no such thing as misandry to them," Young continued.
But, "Barbie" is not the only example of media portraying men poorly. Hawley pointed to sitcoms over the past three decades, saying men and fathers are portrayed as "complete idiots" or "actively malign influences."
Sen. Josh Hawley has been outspoken about valuing males and masculinity in American society. (Andrew Harnik/Pool via Reuters)
Riley Gaines, a former NCAA swimmer and OutKick host, has seen this trend firsthand in sports, where she says being masculine is an "undesirable trait" for many modern men who live in fear of being rejected.
"As a society, we have lost what it means to be masculine. Actually, we've deemed masculinity as bad, it's toxic," Gaines told Fox News Digital.
"They don’t want to be seen as oppressors and that’s what we’ve deemed masculinity as," Gaines added. "There is the saying, ‘Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times,’ and it’s incredibly interesting because you can see it play out throughout history."
Gaines, a 12-time NCAA All-American swimmer, gained prominence for speaking out when she was forced to compete against transgender swimmer Lia Thomas in 2022. She was also forced to share a locker room with Thomas and has since dedicated her energy to protecting women’s sports.
"I think the last time that we, as a society, had a culture full of strong men was during the 1940s World War II," Gaines said. "I think we're in this part of the process now where weak men have created hard times, which we can only hope that these hard times garner strong men again. But we need to expedite this process, and we're seeing it's infiltrating into all aspects of life."
Gaines said this problem was on full display when men didn’t defend her from a biological male infiltrating women’s swimming.
"There were no men who defended us when we expressed our discomfort in the locker room. Not our coaches, not our parents, not the athletic directors. No one. And I waited, I waited desperately for one of those men to step up because that role, the coaching role and the athletic director role, it is a male dominated role and none of them were," she said.
Riley Gaines has been an outspoken supporter of women's sports after being forced to compete against a biological male in NCAA tournaments. (Brett Davis-USA Today Sports)
"I took it upon myself to speak out because I was sick of waiting for the men," Gaines said. "I'm still waiting for those men to take a stand and say, 'Enough is enough,’ and really fulfill not only their societal role, but their biblical role, which is, of course, to protect and provide."
This cultural shift can also be seeing in employment and across the economy, Brenda Hafera, a scholar at the Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital.
In recent years, job numbers from the U.S. Labor Department have shown that fewer men of "prime working age," 25 to 54, are working, which Hafera said is a long-term trend in the U.S. economy.
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"It’s been going on for more than half a century… prime age working men are willingly exiting the workforce," she explained. "They’re not even looking for jobs, and this is very concerning."
Hawley placed a portion of the blame for this shift in the workforce on the federal government deemphasizing blue-collar jobs in America.
"For 30 plus years now, policymakers in Washington have stupidly sent millions of blue collar jobs out of this country. That matters to men. If you want to know why men get married later, don’t get married, why a lot of them are out of the workforce, part of it is they don't have the prospect of being able to say, ‘Yeah, you know what? I could get a job where I could actually provide for a family on this wage," the senator said.
"We need to get jobs back in this country where men who are blue collar workers can get married, raise a family on a good wage, and they don't have to go to get an expensive four-year degree to do it," Hawley added.
A decline in the workforce is not the only negative impact from this trend, Hafera said.
"Boys are more at risk for suicide, they’re more at risk for incarceration, the deaths of despair among boys and men, which are deaths as a result of suicide or alcoholism, are increasing and actually male life expectancy is going down," she said. "The primary cause is, of course, the lack of fathers in the home and the lack of male role models, which has just had a devastating effect on boys and men."
The shift in values, and the struggles facing men, negatively impact women as well, Hafera said.
"I think the sexes are completely intertwined… when men are doing poorly that also affects women," she said. "Women struggle to find fathers and husbands and good partners in life and the reverse is also true. I think we need to dial back the narrative and the idea that men and women don't need each other."
The traditional masculine and feminine values, which media and entertainment is so aggressively fighting against, are rooted in ancient history, said William Lam, founder of UPGRD, a mental programming company looking to "upgrade" people’s minds through neuroscience.
Lam noted that masculine traits are typically taught in goal setting and business or personal achievement courses because they are often associated with success. These traits are very conscious and often include aspects of willpower, taking action and deciding what you want.
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Meanwhile, femineity is often associated with the unconscious mind, which includes imagination, nurturing, and emotional motivation. Both sides of the mind, Lam said, are integral to the creation of personal success and happiness.
"The two go hand in hand," Lam said. "If one argues and said we just need imagination and just let it be, they are missing out on the decision-making and deliberate design of what we want and willpower, because sometimes it does take discipline to train the unconscious. While if one says we're just going to use sheer force and control, we're missing out on the imagination and the nice nurturing feelings our unconscious mind can give us as true motivation."
(Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images/Fox News)
But our modern lifestyle, focused on technology, consumerism, and sitting behind screens, has kept men complacent and passive, Hawley said.
"What the left tells men today in America is that the most you can hope for is to spend your whole life on a screen as a consumer. Just this… ‘aspire to be a consumer, a passive consumer. Look at your screen, order some stuff, entertain yourself, that’s going to be your life.’"
"There’s no men and no women," Hawley added, further expanding on the mentality. "Just be a consumer. Just sit in your basement, just play stuff online, order stuff online and do as you’re told. That’s really what their version of ‘manhood’ is."
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But just as Gaines was waiting for the men in her life to stand up for her and her teammates, Hawley encouraged men to embrace responsibility and push back on passivity and complacency.
"Listen, real strength is found in providing for others. Real strength is found in responsibility. And the more responsibility you take on, the greater your influence, the greater your sense of purpose in life, the greater your legacy. And that’s the message I think men want to hear," he said.