Navigating Gender Roles: The Struggles of Young Men Today

In this conversation…

Caro & Katie dive headfirst into the “male loneliness epidemic,” “the boys are not all right,” “feminism hurts men” discourse to understand which right-wing think tank’s research suddenly indicates The Men™️ are struggling, its curious timing, and the frustrating tendency of all the coverage to completely gloss over the core problem.

References in this Episode

Of Boys and Men, by Richard Reeves, the man who has penned most of the mainstream coverage on this issue, like this one in the Wall Street Journal

The CNN segment featuring Scott Galloway, “Young Men Feel Abandoned by the Democratic Party”

“How I Escaped the Alt-Right Pipeline,” the video we watched clips of in the second half of this episode that identifies Jordan Peterson as a common entry point

“Alok Vaid-Menon: The Urgent Need for Compassion,” an interview for the Man Enough podcast

“omg enough about male loneliness,” by Clara for Hmm That's Interesting

“On the Ballot: American Manhood,” by Richard Reeves for The Wall Street Journal

“America’s Young Men Are Falling Further Behind,” by Rachel Wolfe for The Wall Street Journal

“How I Escaped the Alt-Right Pipeline,” by YouTuber JimmytheGiant

Bonus Reading & Resources

“Patriarchy is Bad for Men and Boys” from Matriarchy Report

“Why aren’t we talking about the real reason male college enrollment is dropping?” from Celeste Davis of Matriarchal Blessing, about the “feminization” of higher education

“Race, Class, and Gender in the United States: Fear, Shame, and Silence in the Construction of Gender Identity” by Michael Kimmel, which is a fancy academic PDF by a sociologist about all the ways “masculinity” is invented and redefined over time

“How an Empty Internet Gave Us Tradwives and Trump” by all-star heavy-hitter Diabolical Lies favorite, Tressie McMillan Cottom, which explains the cultural aesthetic of the “podcast bro”

“Patriarchy Is Bad for Men and Boys, Too,” a banger by Lane Anderson for Lane Anderson

Time Stamps

0:00 - BUT WHAT ABOUT THE MEN? let’s discuss.

3:00 - Hulk Hogan enters the chat because of course

5:00 - *whispers* this is a conversation about identity politics actually!!!

6:00 - understanding Richard Reeves, the architect of the “what about the boys” movement

11:55 - CNN clip #1, in which two bald white men in suits convey their grave concern about the fact that “men have fallen”

14:11 - CNN clip #2, in which those bald white men seem not to realize that “latinos,” “rural Americans,” “ethnic Americans,” “seniors,” and other demographic groups…include…men????

19:10 — final piece of mainstream coverage, in which a featured image on an article says the quiet part out loud

23:35 — what is patriarchy, actually?

28:24 — are the men actually more lonely than other demographics?

32:10 — in case anyone wants to learn more about how the American Enterprise Institute lifts up men <3

34:22 — yes, dear reader, there are in fact women who uphold the notion that men need more time, attention, and resources from this country

50:00 — little tip for the women who want to give up feminist beliefs in order to “fix their marriage”

53:00 — Caro beats the “look at the data” drum

55:50 — Katie makes a huge point

58:30 — we listen to a personal account from YouTuber JimmytheGiant on how he escaped the alt-right pipeline

1:04:00 — Jordan Peterson enters the chat. Is anyone surprised?

1:13:25 — JimmytheGiant offers a v compelling argument for class consciousness as a solution to alt-right ideology drift

1:20:00 — no guys sincerely: it’s hard to overstate how unique America’s brand of “capitalism” is, compared to other wealthy capitalist nations

1:24:00 — Richard Reeves makes his big grand argument

1:29:00 — Katie makes another huge point

1:38:00 — let’s be clear on where the two-party system fits into this conversation

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