What does it mean to be a good man? Masculine and dominant? Playful and caring?
This is a difficult question, yet so important in determining the role that men play in society. For years, we have failed to incorporate men into our vision of a liberal, progressive future, critiquing patriarchy and male privilege without offering an idea of the positive role men can play. During the push to diversify male-dominate jobs such as finance, where was the push for men to enter into underrepresented industries like nursing or teaching?
The reactionary wave of conservatism among young men has birthed a new “manosphere,” a collection of male-dominated online spaces that disseminate misogynistic and male supremacist content. As these toxic male spaces continue to surge online, it is these voices that will begin to define masculinity itself and shape how younger generations will come to understand it. The fix? As a society, we must strive to create alternative spaces to allow for the resurgence of progressive masculinity, such as physical support groups or positive online communities.
Perhaps no figure embodies this worrisome trend as fully as Andrew Tate, notorious for his extremely misogynistic and violent demeanor towards women. His ideology is defined by 41 “tenets,” one of which includes his desire to “help men overcome poor mental health through embracing hard work, physical improvements and shared masculine brotherhood.” Such principles, rooted in the increasingly prevalent issue of men’s mental health, have become widely popular and attracted millions of followers. Men’s mental health is important, no doubt. But Tate’s solutions draw on the worst of what traditional masculinity has to offer.
Tate’s rise to prominence among young men is a marker of the new wave of right-wing ideologies that now dominate the demographic in the so-called “manosphere.” The danger of preachers like Tate promoting traditional masculinity is that it teaches young men to value emotional detachment, violence and the subservience of women. Rhetoric of this kind has had significant cultural impact, from exacerbating the crisis of domestic violence to a disproportionately negative impact on communities of color.
Over the last decade, popular culture depictions of male characters in media have also taken an alarming turn towards antagonization, leaving few positive role models for young boys to look up to. Superman, with his lauded chivalry, compassion and courage, for example, has long been a favorite character for children and teenagers across the country. But even he took a dark turn in Zack Snyder’s 2013 film “Man of Steel,” where the family-favorite character was spotlighted for his emotional detachment, disregard for human life and exaggerated physical features. Directors can and should critique the behaviors of powerful men, but the media fails young men when it rarely provides positive alternatives.
The root of these troubling developments could ultimately be traced to our collective failure to include men in modern, progressive movements. While many groups in the United States have made progress in building community and advocating for their issues, men as a demographic have failed to create any sort of progressive leadership for themselves. The liberal political elite have failed to include them in national conversations, such as the sparse mention of men in the Democrats’ 2024 master platform, which effectively excluded men from the Democratic conversation. There were and continue to be no clear spaces for men to express their grievances, no support system to deconstruct the emotional hardships of the patriarch for men — such as the pressures to dominate and be emotionally unvulnerable — while providing an alternative to Tate’s conception of a “real man.”
Instead of neglecting men, we desperately need an overhaul of our current strategy. To correct the damaging effects of the unequal institutions that have been created to benefit them, we must as a society and individuals create alternative spaces for the male sex. On a large scale, this could mean political intervention and the creation of physical groups or spaces for men to turn to and address their grievances. On a smaller scale, this might mean simply asking deeper and more emotional questions of our male peers or pushing them to reject emotional detachment and embrace their feelings.
In these tumultuous times where some may view men as a lost cause, we must remind ourselves that there is such a thing as positive masculinity: Being a man can mean taking care of those you love, being present among your peers and making the world a better place. New media like James Gunn’s “Superman” demonstrates what that could look like and gives us hope to realize the important connection between progress and men.
When the cultural tide turns against traditional masculinity, we must be careful not to reject men as a whole. They are our friends and loved ones, and we must envision a world where they can participate as well-meaning, positive individuals.
Shayyan Ahmed ’27 can be reached at shayyan_ahmed@brown.edu. Please send responses to this column to letters@browndailyherald.com and other opinions to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
