Listen to Abby

 

MAGA will have its knives out.

Toxic masculinity on parade

Everywhere one looked at the Milwaukee RNC, packs of men in their 20s and 30s roamed around, often in tailored suits instead of the khakis and polo shirts preferred by their older brethren. But the dandified fashion of the young would-be fascist should not fool anyone. The key to attracting all these young men is a deeply misogynist message: Feminists deprived them of their "right" to dominate, and only through Trump can they regain the glorious patriarchal past.

[...]

[E]verything from Hogan ripping off his shirt to Trump pretending he's a general egging on troops is a collective overcompensation by a whole lot of men.

[...]

Liberals no longer react to female MAGA's provocations with outrage, but with eye-rolling. Without the trigger-the-liberals effect, it appears lady trolls have little to offer the Republican base. They certainly aren't valued as leaders in a party where men live in a constant state of paranoia about being emasculated.

  Salon

h/t Jean

Misogyny rising

Almost 1,000 references to dehumanising misogyny or violent action are recorded each day in the “incelosphere” as the toxicity of male supremacist content continues to intensify.

Analysis of the incel [involuntary celibates] movement found that online references to inflicting violence and extremely degrading language on dedicated incel forums are running eight times higher than in 2016, when researchers first began tracking misogynist content on the internet.

Academics from the University of Exeter also noted an increasing overlap between incel followers and the far right, with online algorithms blamed for pushing young boys towards extreme rightwing ideology.

[...]

[Researcher Lewys Brace] said the movement had evolved from a series of subreddits to dedicated forums – the “incelosphere” – but which were now spreading across other online spaces, such as Instagram, TikTok, Discord and Twitch.

  Guardian

Misogyny - toxic masculinity - has also been found to be a major motivator for mass killings. 

 ...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

So what's the downside?

Seriously, though, Tucker is right.  It's been happening for decades, and the reason, according to scientific studies from way back, is the proliferation of chemical agents in our environment.  

Still, a reduction in testosterone levels seems like it could be the answer to some of our problems.

So very masculine

Trump's overt hypermasculinity was a defining feature of his candidacy in 2016, whether he was talking about his testosterone count or his penis size or shrugging off the infamous Access Hollywood tape, in which he talked about committing sexual assault as "locker room talk." That macho approach went on to define his presidency, as well.

[...]

"Militancy is at the heart of [Trump's] identity, and militancy requires enemies, and so his enemies are both foreign and domestic," she said.

Beyond picking fights with foreign leaders, Trump does so with domestic politicians and the news media. The clear idea that comes across, du Mez says, is that "compromise is a sign of weakness."

[...]

His opponents know it, too, and they're trying to turn this key piece of his political success into a vulnerability. The anti-Trump Lincoln Project has made multiple ads taking aim at Trump's manhood.

"Even Fox said you were low-energy," a woman purrs in one ad about the Republican convention's TV ratings. "We know. It's different now. You're tired. It's hard to keep your [meaningful pause] ratings up."

[...]

Trump and some of his high-profile supporters often portray mask wearing as a sign of weakness. He mocked Joe Biden in the first debate for wearing a mask, and Trump implied at one point that to wear one publicly would be to give in: "I didn't want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it."

Conservative commentator Tomi Lahren was more explicit in linking masks to gender, joking that Biden "might as well carry a purse with that mask."

[...]

There was another approach Trump could have taken, says Meredith Conroy, professor of political science at California State University.

"There was a way to make wearing a mask masculine, a different type of masculinity, about protecting other people and being patriotic," she said. "But that's not the type of masculinity that Trump has really ever embodied. So it probably was never going to happen."

[...]

He has hailed Russia's Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jinping as "strong" and Turkey's Recip Tayyip Erdogan as "a tough guy who deserves respect."

Trump's pugilistic style also could exacerbate existing tensions, as when Trump tweeted that he had a "much bigger and more powerful" "Nuclear Button" than North Korea's Kim Jong Un — "and my button works!"

Masculinity is also reflected in Trump's economic rhetoric. He was blatant about it this week, when he told a crowd in Michigan, "We're getting your husbands back to work." (This is despite the fact that women have disproportionately dropped out of the labor force during the pandemic).

[...]

In multiple major economic addresses and State of the Union speeches, Trump has highlighted professions like manufacturing, mining and construction, but virtually ignored other working-class, "pink-collar" workers in female-dominated, care-oriented jobs like nursing or health aides. And in his job-creation initiatives, Trump has also tended to focus on those blue-collar areas — particularly manufacturing.

Indeed, he seems to relish the public appearances he gets to do while promoting these industries, as he dons hard-hats or sits behind the wheel of a semi.

Trump has no idea what a real man is. He plays one on TV - or, rather, what he thinks a man is.

It's noteworthy that President Trump seems to have a gendered pattern to his put-downs: he tends to belittle male opponents as weak, saying they are "cryin'" or "little" or "low-energy," whereas he often insults women's looks or casts them as hysterical.

[...]

Trump didn't create this atmosphere, and he's not the only one who benefits from it, either — so does Joe Biden. It has boosted and busted the fortunes of presidents.

However, Trump has been blatant about amping up his particular, aggressive and pugilistic brand of masculinity.

  NPR

Yeah, that's what I think of when I look at Trump: masculinity.

Wide hips

Heavy makeup

Primped, sprayed, and bobby-pinned hair

High heels and shoe lifts

Yeah, the very picture of masculinity and strength.

And don't get me started on his constant whining. Or the toxicity of "masculinity".

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

What Republicans really believe

This kind of shit is only going to get more women killed, and in fact engender more mass killings.  I don't know the statistics, but I've seen articles about the prevalence of a history of domestic abuse or other issues with women among mass killers.  

Seriously, you should look at that video.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE: