The Poison of White Supremacist Masculinity

Three men in a single file line on a hill. They are walking away from the camera into a sunset.Photo Credit: Tim Foster

Like our slaveholding first president—not our current one—I cannot tell a lie: we must chop down the poisonous tree of white supremacist masculinity.

I felt tears well up when I heard about the alt-right violence unleashed in Charlottesville on August 12. Some of my tears, though, were in frustration. How is it possible after all the years colleagues and I have been writing and speaking about the gender of the killers—from Columbine to Orlando—that coverage of murder suspect James Fields. Jr. failed to point out the obvious: he was a disaffected, alienated 20-year-old male. Sound familiar? Recognize the profile? Continue reading →

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Taking on the Misogyny of a Failed President

"Group Photo Credit: Samantha Sophia

The white male bully temporarily occupying the White House represents the worst expression of manhood the U.S. has ever seen, but that dangerous truth is being obscured by so many of his other treacherous actions. Millions of words have been written excoriating the questionably elected president on a host of topics — from denying climate change to restricting minority voting rights; from sanctioning draconian drug laws to promoting harsh prison sentences for nonviolent offenders. Almost entirely absent in this blizzard of assaults on social progress is the predator-in-chief’s misogyny. Continue reading →

MEN’S LETTER TO THE AUTHORITARIAN ORANGUTAN: Show Us You Believe in Gender Equality

By Rob Okun

Will Donald Trump change his attitude toward women?

After the release of the 2005 Access Hollywood video caught him admitting to sexually assaulting women, many citizens couldn’t believe he could receive enough Electoral College votes to become president. I was one of them.

On January 31, I was a signatory to an open letter to Mr. Trump in POLITICO calling on him “to support this country’s, and the world’s, women.” (An accompanying petition is gaining names).  My co-letter writers and I challenged the president to set a high standard, to show that he is a man who believes in women’s equality and who opposes discrimination and violence of all kinds by men against women and girls. Continue reading →

Black silhouette of father and son standing on a pier in front of gray water.

Father’s Day Present Worth Unwrapping: Overdue Policy Advice

Millions of men will wake up Sunday to handmade cards, neckties and, maybe, a new electronic gadget. It’s Father’s Day 2016, a time to acknowledge dear old Dad.

But beyond this increasingly commercialized day of purchasing manly presents (often overwhelming sincere expressions of love), lies a deeper, more important question: where is fatherhood in the United States going today?

Answers can be found in the “State of America’s Fathers,” a new report that advocates increasing both the visibility and value of dads caring for children. Continue reading →

Why is the Orlando Murderer’s Gender Not Central to the Story?

The massacre in Orlando was carried out as an act of rage. By a man. Who had access to military-grade weapons. And had unmet mental health and trauma needs.

Until or unless we make the murderer’s gender a central part of not just this story, but of the larger effort to prevent mass shootings (that have traditionally solely focused on gun control and mental health), we won’t succeed in preventing such horrors in the future. We have talked about nearly all those other factors: access to guns, his mental health, his homophobic views. What about the manhood part? Continue reading →