Column

With over 1,000 Americans dying every day of Covid, the president of the United States refusing to concede an election he lost, and the West Coast continuing to burn, there is no shortage of pressing issues to be outraged over. That’s why I find it so strange that conservatives have focused their energy and ire on perhaps the most innocuous event of the year: a male celebrity in a dress.

Musician Harry Styles appears on Vogue’s December cover wearing a Gucci gown — the first man to ever be featured solo on the front of the iconic fashion publication. Styles…

Over the past fews days, the Proud Boys — a far-right men’s club that celebrates “Western chauvinism” — have been all over the news. After several members were involved in a violent altercation outside New York’s Metropolitan Republican Club, various articles have dissected the organization’s numerous beliefs, including their enthusiastic support of violence, closed borders, and the patriarchy. Less discussed, however, is something the Proud Boys are emphatically against: If you want to be a true member of their club, you’re required to give up masturbation (or, as the group likes to say, adopt their policy of #NoWanks).

How did…

Column

“Toxic masculinity” is one of those terms that conservatives love to dunk on: They either dismiss it as the elite terminology of gender studies run amok or mischaracterize it as an unfair critique of all men. The truth is much more mundane; it accurately describes the harmful things some men do in order to adhere to an outdated and dangerous concept of masculinity.

See: Donald Trump.

The president, who was hospitalized with Covid-19, has repeatedly put his fear of seeming unmanly above his and the country’s health: He has shunned wearing a mask since the pandemic started for fear of…

Column

As the Covid-19 pandemic drags into May, we have yet to see the president of the United States wear a mask. Donald Trump has reportedly told his allies that he has no plans to wear one for fears that it would make him look ridiculous. And he’s not the only one.

Since the pandemic started, I’ve heard people give a lot of terrible reasons for not wearing masks to protect themselves and others from the coronavirus: Some claim it’s an infringement of their rights, others think it won’t really help. …

For GQ’s masculinity-themed November issue, the magazine’s editors asked around 1,000 Americans a number of questions on the topic of manliness. Of those surveyed, 97% thought expectations for male behavior had changed in the last 10 years. The magazine issue covers, among other things, emotionality, expression, bold clothing statements, and makeup — things that aren’t traditionally “masculine.” It made me think back to more than a decade ago, to those covering themselves in eyeliner, dyeing their hair, unabashedly performing, and wearing their darkest feelings on their sleeves all that time ago.

I’m talking, of course, about the kings of mid-2000s…

Jessica Valenti

In a television commercial that aired over 50 years ago, a husband throws the coffee his wife has made him into the bushes, berating her and pointing his finger in her face for not knowing how to make a proper cup of joe. In a 2012 commercial for Carl’s Jr., a model eats a hamburger as if she’s orgasming. For decades, ads have dictated the proper ways for women to be women; generations of us have grown up under the thumb of corporate-created sexist expectations.

Given that long and unpleasant history, it’s a bit baffling to see the controversy over…