Toxic Masculinity in anticipation of a Post-Patriarchal America

Rodney D. Coates

 

Protesters outside the US embassy in London the day after Donald Trump’s inauguration. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo source:  https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/jun/22/the-age-of-patriarchy-how-an-unfashionable-idea-became-a-rallying-cry-for-feminism-today

National news organizations, the U.S. intelligence organizations, civil society groups, political leaders, and scholars have declared, in a rare moment of concurrence ,  that we experienced in this election cycle one of highest levels of political violence in recent decades.  Even before the election, some 167 pre-election challenges have been filed across all 50 states by Trump’s legal teams.   But the violence that is being anticipated, experienced is neither novel nor restricted to the political realm.  Rather, it is part of the systemic violent reaction particularly of males to the perceived loss of power.  Specifically, it is a form of toxic masculinity in response to what may be characterized as a post-patriarchal age.  This essay will examine these responses, and how they have not been created by this political moment, but certainly have been utilized to advance a far -right political agenda.  Let’s begin. 

The Current Political mood and the appeal to toxic masculinity

Almost from day one to our current moment, a gender gap has existed and continues to increase men overwhelmingly have been attracted to Trump, while females line up for Harris.  On the surface this gender gap seems to be related to the economy and abortion, and to an extent it is accurate.   Trump has promoted a hypermasculinity message to  Black, Latino, Jewish and White men.  Using particularly sexist terms he declares that any who vote for Kamala needs “your head examined” as ”They are screwing you”.  And only Michelle Obama could express why one should support Harris.  Put simply its “about our value as women in this world”.  So here we are, with 57% of likely men voters supporting Trump, and 55% of women supporting Harris.  As we neared the election, the level of gender polarization has only increased, only matched by the level of political and other forms of violence.  Ironically, it is males that are most likely the perpetrators of this violence, and it is females that are most likely targeted. 

For the past few years, starting in 2018 and 2019, the far right have advocated putting “a bullet to the head” in order to remove House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.  Three men, part of neo-Nazi militia group in Michigan, plotted to kidnap Governor Whitmer.  In all these attacks, the motive is clear and consistent.  Much like what happened during Jim Crow, the period of lynching, and the political assassinations that followed, white male privilege is being challenged and violence is the response.   But now it is gendered, and more recently racist. 

Donald Trump, either through fate or chance, is the only presidential candidate that has faced two females in presidential elections.  Through these campaigns, he has developed a long and threatening record of denigrating women.  Trump has consistently attempted to intimidate, humiliate, threaten, and belittle women.  The appeal to men, sexuality and violence seems to have no end as in recent speeches, we are forced to consider dead men’s genitalia, suggests that Ms. Harris used sex to advance her career,  all the while he is promised to “protect” women whether the women like it or not”    

All of this comes in the backdrop of increasing political violence targeting particular politicians who are women of color.  Consider Boston Mayor Michelle Wu who is frequently a target for white supremacists. Or Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal of Washington who was stalked by a man with a gun outside her own home. Or the repeated, almost daily threats received by New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.  Women politicians are three times more likely than their male colleagues to be targeted by threats and harassment.  These threats and harassment not only serve to create a constant fear for the victim but have become a political tool by Donald Trump. These attacks have served to reinforce his standing among his base, and his appeal to “Make America Great Again”. 

A slogan that many women, particularly those of color must ask exactly when this was, and what has threatened the presumed greatness.

Far Right Extremism, Racial Patriarchy -the presumed Great America

Within the U.S. Far-right Extremist groups, consisting of Anti-government militia groups, white nationalists, Proud Boys, Christian Nationalist and QAnon, have been growing over the past few decades.  Even before Trump’s victory was official, celebrations and threats began to surface on various social media sites.  Christian Nationalist, framing this as a choice between God and Satan, good and Evil, celebrated the defeat of the “demoncrats” and the victory of one chosen by God to usher in “Bible-based governance”.  As reported in Wired by Tess Owen “Many many many executions are warranted…These traitors are a terminal cancer that MUST Be completely eradicated to make America healthy again.”

Looking below the surface of Christian Nationalism and other far-right extremists is a concern that whiteness, patriarchy and masculinity are under attack. Putting this together, what we are seeing and have been seeing for the past decade or so is increasing concern that White, Male Patriarchal control is waning.  The result, a collective and systematic social and political movement that has targeted  the persons of color, the family, and women.  These concerns are not new.

Over 6 years ago, Oprah Winfrey observing the rape and sexual assault charges of Harvey Weinstein, declared that  “brutally powerful men” had broken something vital in our society.  She argued that toxic masculinity had caused women harm not just for those in Hollywood, but among those who were athletes, soldiers, academics, and service workers, agricultural workers, factory workers. Weinstein’s trial was a clarion charge to fix a broken system that transcended “geography, race, religion, politics and workplace”.  On that day, Steve Bannon, media executive, alt-right political activists and strategists, declared that an anti-patriarchy war had been declared. A war in which “Women (were) gonna take charge of society…The anti-patriarchy movement is going to undo 10,000 years of recorded history.”  

Strange, even as the

  Evidence  -Racial Patriarchy and its defenders

For over thirty years headlines have screamed “Boys in Crisis: Schools are Failing young males”, American Boys in serious Trouble, and The Crisis of Men and Boys.  Trump’s mantra, for the last 4 years, has been that the election was rigged as he displayed both his psychic pains and subconscious anxieties.  One cannot escape the reality that  upwards of 70 million Americans shared in his trauma. That reality suggest a much deeper set of issues.   The response has been on three fronts:  the fantasy of   racism and the “great replacement theory” , misogyny, homophobia and sexism, all wrapped in the American flag and patriotism. Collectively these have buttressed America’s system of “Racial Patriarchy.

Racism and the Great Replacement Theory

The “great replacement theory,” whose origins date back to the late 19th century, argues that Jews and some Western elites are conspiring to replace white Americans and Europeans with people of non-European descent, particularly Asians and Africans.

The conspiracy evolved from a series of false ideas that, over time, stoked the fears of white people: In 1892, British-Australian author and politician Charles Pearson warned that white people would “wake to find ourselves elbowed and hustled, and perhaps even thrust aside by people whom we looked down.” The massive influx of immigrants into Europe at the time fostered some of these fears and resulted in “white extinction anxiety.” In the U.S., it resulted in policies targeting immigration in the late 19th and early 20th century.

In France, journalist Édouard Drumont, leader of an antisemitic movement, wrote articles in the late 19th century imagining how Jews would destroy French culture. In 1909, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, an Italian poet and supporter of Benito Mussolini, argued that war and fascism were the only cure for the world. Fascism, then and now, worked to ensure white dominance.

This was followed by the eugenics movement, an erroneous and racist theory that supported forced sterilization of Black people, the mentally ill and other marginalized groups, who were all deemed “unfit.”

The 1978 book entitled “The Turner Diaries,” a fictional futuristic account of the overthrow of the United States government, further contributed to white nationalist ideas.

Collectively, these gave rise to a global movement that attracted a wide range of white supremacist, xenophobic and anti-immigration conspiracy theories. These theories were formally codified in the work of Frenchman Renaud Camus, first in his 2010 book “L'Abécédaire de l'in-nocence” and elaborated in his 2011 book “Le Grand Remplacement.”

Camus argued that ethnic French and white Europeans were being replaced physically, culturally and politically by nonwhite people. He believed that liberal immigration policies and the dramatic decline in white birth rates were threatening European civilization and traditions.

Why this conspiracy theory matters

These false ideas promulgated the spread of white supremacy, which has contributed to terrorist attacks, state violence and propaganda campaigns in the U.S and parts of Europe.  The Global Project Against Hate and Extremism has compiled a list of a number of terrorist attacks across the world associated with believers of the Great Replacement Theory.  They include:

·        2017 violence during white supremacist riots in Charlottesville, Virginia, where racists chanted “Jews will not replace us” and “you will not replace us.” One anti-racist activist was murdered in a car-ramming attack and dozens were injured.

·        2018 attack on the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where the shooter was targeting the offices of HIAS, a Jewish agency that for decades has worked to resettle refugees. Eleven people were murdered.

·        2019 shooting at an El Paso, Texas, Walmart, which the gunman specifically chose in the hopes of finding a large population of Latin American immigrants. Twenty-three people were murdered.

·        2019 shooting at a Poway, California, synagogue, which the gunman chose because he believed Jews were planning a “genocide” of Europeans. One person was murdered. He had earlier set an Escondido, California, mosque on fire.

·        2019 Christchurch, New Zealand, mosque attacks, where the gunman was targeting Muslims whom he believed did not belong in the country. Fifty-one people were murdered.

·        2019 Halle, Germany, synagogue attack, where the gunman was targeting a Yom Kippur event at which 52 people were present. Unable to enter the synagogue, the gunman murdered a passerby and a man in a kebab shop.

·        2020 attacks on two Shisha bars in Hanau, Germany, which the gunman targeted because immigrants frequented them. Nine people were murdered.

·        2021 murders in London, Ontario, Canada. Four Muslims were murdered, who the killer described as “invaders.” He is a self-admitted white supremacist and a believer in the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory.

·        2022 Buffalo, New York, shooting at a supermarket. The gunman was racist and antisemitic and believed in the Great Replacement. Ten people were murdered.

·        2023 mass shooting in Allen, Texas. The gunman shared an abundance of white supremacist literature, imagery, and racist “Great Replacement” rhetoric, such as “We are being flooded by hordes of disreputable brown fiends.” Eight people were murdered.

 

Impact of the theory and spread of hate

In less than two decades, the theory has become a major idea, with as many as 60% of the French population believing some aspects of it. According to that survey, they are worried or at least concerned that they might be replaced. In the U.K. and the U.S., close to one-third of those polled believe that white people are systematically being replaced by nonwhite immigrants. Some in the U.S. fear that America might lose its culture and identity as a result.

The MAGA Movement’s big three strategy - misogyny, homophobia and sexism

Early in 2024, Congressman Mat Gaetz (R-Florida) speaking on Newmax spoke of the realignment of the Republican Party.  “This is a blue-collar realignment of the Republican Party, and what I can tell you is for every Karen we lose, there’s a Julio and a Jamal ready to sign up for the MAGA movement.”  Gaetz’s comments predicted the emerging Republican belief that misogyny and homophobia, particularly if aimed as stereotypes of educated, liberal, middle-class white women (Karen) would help the party win not only Black and Hispanic male voters with sexist views, but also challenge white women to demonstrate that they are “straight”.  And it worked. Trumps paraded his past record of sexual abuse, a charged campaign where women are expected to look and behave in specified ways.   Trump’s appeal is obvious when one considers the ideas favored by his supporters going into the 2024 campaign. 

 

Significant differences are evident with regards to gender identity, immigration, and whether or not marriage and children should be a priority.  In terms of gender identity, 60 % of Harris’s supporters believed that gender identity was not assigned at birth, compared to just 7 % for supporters of Trump.  Alternatively, 60% of those who backed Trump, compared to 17% of those in support of Harris, believed that society is better off when marriage and having children were a priority.  Finally, while only 11% of Harris support came from those who believed that the success of women was at the expense of men, over a quarter of Trump’s supporters believed this. 

 Pseudo Patriotism and the Illusion of Liberty

As a Vietnam veteran, I am reminded that freedom is not free but is paid for with the blood of warriors.   As our country prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary on July 4, 2026 it will have as its President the very antithesis of what real patriotism means.   Here will be a President who has continually wrapped himself in the flag while declaring that he is a defender of liberty. A President that did everything he could do to avoid, not once but 5 separate times.  One cannot see a MAGA rally, a Trump banner, or a supporter's Truck that is not flying the flag.  Trump’s own attitude toward veterans is summed up in his statement that those patriots who died in war were “Losers” and “Suckers”.