I am perennially fascinated by this aspect of the current moment. The people most invested in masculinity as a political project have an idea of it that seems bizarre to me. Not just in the sense of: I disagree with them about what would be good. Obviously. But it's more than that...
Reposted from
jamelle
setting aside the fact that the entire white house staff is utterly poisoned by online in a way that actually exceeds any democratic staffer, it is incredibly pathetic that they look at trump's temper tantrum and see "strength"
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Where windmills give you cancer, putting children in cages is virtuous but you also have to protect single embryonic cells at the expense of the mother.
1/2
And feeling scared of the existence of other genders is masculine.
How do you even argue with stuff that's so absurd it's "not even wrong".
2/2
Real mean don't have to prove that they are. They remain calm and quiet while serving others.
For these people "old fashioned family values" means a return to the times when you could beat and rape your wife with impunity.
It's funny the Pompeii papyri folks are involved. All the stoic stuff they decipher is going to sound very unmanly and woke I guess
All masculinity has ever been is a system of making people feel the need to prove themselves. Anything else is a hallucination printed in a 60s pulp novel.
Our despots are just performing that more transparently now.
😂
"Do as I say, don't do as I do"
—Genesis
it's a weak spin, but it's not isolated. zuckerberg says we need more "masculine energy" and to "celebrate aggression."
Whiny petulance kinda old school too?
Also why is not separate from race (I guess).
DARVO* has always been part of the repertoire and they're proud of it as a tactic.
*Deny, And Reverse the Order of 'Victim' and 'Oppressor'
(Used for offenders, but now key to race?)
Trump and Vance to go to their rooms and think about what they’ve done
Possibly, it's that thing where you think technology has made you untouchable
What these people think is "attractive" is the reason they could never get a date in the first place.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/02/trump-masculinity/681828/
Ganz's WHEN THE CLOCK BROKE was helpful for me in this connection.
The alpha/beta/omega dynamic comes from wolves who don't know each being thrust together (in captivity) & struggling to know what to do. I guess that's what our society is like for some people.
But they always always must appear fearless.
Patriarchy is rule by the paterfamilias, not by the sons, the catamites, & the help.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/02/support-pours-in-for-president-trump-vp-vances-america-first-strength/
Consult the QTs for (re-)illumination.
When threatened, some buckle, some lash out, and some whine. Whining is the one that transmits through the internet, turns out.
But Zelenskyy handled that trap well.
The distinction is important because the world needs to grasp the European charm offensive was not a devious ploy.
And I'm not surprised how skillfully Zelenskyy handled Trump's clumsy attempts at extortion. As a former comedian, I'm sure Zelenskyy has dealt with stupid hecklers before.
They have to preen and throw shit around.
Everyone LOVES Dear Leader.
may they all be primaried to hell.
Checks out.
Daddy didn’t love me. That hurt. When I lash out. I will hurt. That’s what real manliness is.
Talia Lavin’s recent book, Wild Faith, looks at how deep authoritarian fatherhood runs in conservative Christianity.
It doesn’t explain why these people’s masculine ideal is so … pathetic?
We didn’t start the fire…
No blood letting … yet
Aggression is a traditionally masculine trait. What Trump was doing was not a tantrum, but a show of aggression. He yelled at someone in a way that millions of frustrated men would like to shout someone down in their own lives...
I grew up loving WWF. Watching back now it's clear how much of it was simply gender performance.
https://discontinuednotes.com/2024/06/25/free-fire-zone/
In the MAGA version of Sands Of Iwo Jima, they all stay on the landing craft tweeting "the Japanese soldiers are being so mean to us. Sad!"
https://hedgehogreview.com/issues/identitieswhat-are-they-good-for/articles/what-is-it-like-to-be-a-man calls masculinity “an abstract rage to protect” and I think it’s a little temporally essentialist but it’s apt here.
One of the hallmarks of masculinity is not caring about it. See Obama for details.
As a liberal nerd who played football in the mid-2000s, I encountered numerous instances of insane racism and overall moral disinhibition that tracks with the current moment.
They are rooting for S.P.E.C.T.R.E. now.
Maybe try that before judging?