darin
12-01-2017, 02:05 AM
Very well said
http://thefederalist.com/2017/11/30/sex-assault-claims-dont-prove-male-toxicity-absence-masculinity/
But these cases are feeding a certain ideological agenda: that masculinity as such is to blame.
Revelations about the comedian Louis C.K. are described as a warning about “toxic masculinity,” and a whole article on him in The Daily Beast is categorized under the heading “Toxic Masculinity.” Sally Kohn declares that “We Need ‘Extreme Vetting’ for Toxic Masculinity.”
It’s important to understand that the common denominator in the allegations about Louis C.K., Roy Moore, Spacey, and Weinstein (who has denied the allegations) and all the other Hollywood and media and political figures accused of sexual assault and sexual harassment isn’t sexuality, or even sex, but toxic masculinity.
“Toxic masculinity” is supposedly only one kind of masculinity, the bad kind, but we can readily suspect that what they have in mind is masculinity as such. Sally Kohn, for example, sees “toxic masculinity” in “cultural norms that, for example, tell men to be tough,” a description so vague it is likely to rope in everyone this side of Pajama Boy.
So we see some poor guy in the New York Times limp forward for the ritual self-flagellation of telling us that the problem is “the nature of men in general” and specifically “the often ugly and dangerous nature of the male libido” which requires “strenuous repression.” I always suspected the cultural left would circle back to Puritanism in the end. What strikes me about most of the allegations so far, however, is how unmasculine the men are. If there is a crisis of masculinity here, the crisis is its absence.
Controlling Others Is a Confession of Inadequacy
The signature story to emerge from the accusations of sexual misconduct—it pops up with Weinstein, Mark Halperin, Louis C.K., and others—is men forcing women to watch them masturbate. I hadn’t heard of this practice before, but apparently it’s a top item in the sexual predator’s playlist. Yet how can anything so pathetic be described as “masculinity”?
Sexual assault, the act of a man imposing himself on an unwilling woman, is always a confession of some kind of inadequacy. The attacker implicitly assumes that no woman would be sexually interested in him if she had any choice in the matter. This is actually the not-so-subtle theme of the pick-up artist types, a sleazy manchild subculture that starts from the premise that these guys can’t get any woman in her right mind to sleep with them, so instead they have to practice techniques to deceive and manipulate women. It’s a sliding scale from there to our latest crop of leering assaulters. All of it starts with the kind of man who is unable to achieve gratification in a substantial relationship with an adult woman who accepts him by choice.
http://thefederalist.com/2017/11/30/sex-assault-claims-dont-prove-male-toxicity-absence-masculinity/
But these cases are feeding a certain ideological agenda: that masculinity as such is to blame.
Revelations about the comedian Louis C.K. are described as a warning about “toxic masculinity,” and a whole article on him in The Daily Beast is categorized under the heading “Toxic Masculinity.” Sally Kohn declares that “We Need ‘Extreme Vetting’ for Toxic Masculinity.”
It’s important to understand that the common denominator in the allegations about Louis C.K., Roy Moore, Spacey, and Weinstein (who has denied the allegations) and all the other Hollywood and media and political figures accused of sexual assault and sexual harassment isn’t sexuality, or even sex, but toxic masculinity.
“Toxic masculinity” is supposedly only one kind of masculinity, the bad kind, but we can readily suspect that what they have in mind is masculinity as such. Sally Kohn, for example, sees “toxic masculinity” in “cultural norms that, for example, tell men to be tough,” a description so vague it is likely to rope in everyone this side of Pajama Boy.
So we see some poor guy in the New York Times limp forward for the ritual self-flagellation of telling us that the problem is “the nature of men in general” and specifically “the often ugly and dangerous nature of the male libido” which requires “strenuous repression.” I always suspected the cultural left would circle back to Puritanism in the end. What strikes me about most of the allegations so far, however, is how unmasculine the men are. If there is a crisis of masculinity here, the crisis is its absence.
Controlling Others Is a Confession of Inadequacy
The signature story to emerge from the accusations of sexual misconduct—it pops up with Weinstein, Mark Halperin, Louis C.K., and others—is men forcing women to watch them masturbate. I hadn’t heard of this practice before, but apparently it’s a top item in the sexual predator’s playlist. Yet how can anything so pathetic be described as “masculinity”?
Sexual assault, the act of a man imposing himself on an unwilling woman, is always a confession of some kind of inadequacy. The attacker implicitly assumes that no woman would be sexually interested in him if she had any choice in the matter. This is actually the not-so-subtle theme of the pick-up artist types, a sleazy manchild subculture that starts from the premise that these guys can’t get any woman in her right mind to sleep with them, so instead they have to practice techniques to deceive and manipulate women. It’s a sliding scale from there to our latest crop of leering assaulters. All of it starts with the kind of man who is unable to achieve gratification in a substantial relationship with an adult woman who accepts him by choice.