this post was submitted on 27 Jan 2024
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Having no left answer to masculinity means handing over teen boys to the far right, and effectively kneecapping your primary demographic for what becomes the fighting age of revolutionaries.
It's utopian behaviour.
The left absolutely needs to present something that is attractive to young males interested in the topics that usually end up filling the "masculinity" niche: Fighters, how to get girls, how to be brainier than other people. Andrew Tate is attractive to them for being a top fighter, he crosses over with mra and pua shit that segues boys into the right through the getting girls segment, and Jordan Peterson type stuff fills the last one.
The left has absolutely no answer to this because it's being utopian over the topic. It wants perfection but you simply can't do that with this topic. There needs to be a transition. We need healthy role models that fill the role of masculinity to compete with the far right and then we can eliminate it once they're defeated, otherwise it's just handing hordes of these boys over to them with no effective opposition.
Ynow I think this way of thinking is incredibly flawed but I'm not clever enough to say why. Having been exposed to the alt right pipeline and weirdo redpill mgtow mra nonsense as a young lonely excluded teen it just never really grabbed me. Because its entire concept was predicated on hating women.
When I would speak to men suckered into this way of thinking it was like I was speaking to an alien i simply didn't understand it. And i think the core of it was purely just mysogyny. These men aren't looking for a role model they're looking for reasons to continue hating women. They don't need a better role model they need to stop dehumanising women and realise they are people and the rest will follow.
Also i don't think its accurate to say we have no good "masculine" role models. Hasan exists in all his himbo glory and is very popular. Also you think the right has anyone equivalent? Ignoring Tate what's left? Sneako? Aiden? Og MRA types like the amazing atheist? Thunderfoot? Cmon now, they don't even abide by their own criteria of masculinity
But what I want to say is the core of this issue isn't just some collection of young men who exist in a vacuum with no existing ideology simply fall into the far right for no other reason than cos there's no left opposition they fall into that hole BECAUSE they're already misogynistic and hateful lol.
I agree that misogyny is directly tied to this, but I also agree with @[email protected] that role models for teenagers is the answer. Whenever I'm doing anticapitalist propaganda while talking to men, I always touch on misogyny with it. Because both are related to empathy, someone who is truly empathic will fight both capitalism and misogyny. I refuse to believe teenagers are looking for reasons to hate women, they are angry and rebellious and looking for anything to validate their insecurities. When they find scum like Tate they think they found the bible, not because they understand the ideology, but just because he's contrarian and is talking about things relevant to teenage boys. @[email protected] mentioned how easy it is to flip these ideas and that honestly works because these are kids, all we have to do is make them feel they're seen.
Edit: also this isn't just a social media scene with Tate or whatever, it's everywhere. If the kid looks to his dad, he's a misogynist. If he looks to older boys, they're misogynists. The only answer to validation teen boys get is rooted in hatred for women.
It's important to understand that these boys are genuinely looking for an instruction manual too. They want to know how to be "alpha", they want to know how to get girls, and they want to know how to be the genius like some protag from their favourite anime. They're looking for instruction manuals and they find these people who promise to be them. It's exactly how pua took off in the first place and this entire sphere of online influence began with that.