The 2024 Gender Gap and Toxic Masculinity

It seems to me that American men are going through some things... and the pronounced gender gap in this election cycle certainly highlights it.

I cannot tell you the number of times I've been "gender policed" by other men on social media for supporting Kamala Harris. The worst of it is on Twitter/X, but there's plenty of this kind of internalized misogyny and enforced, confining, toxic masculinity on Facebook, as well.

According to these men, in 2024: Men are not "supposed" to vote for Democrats. Men are not "supposed" to vote for liberals. Men are not "supposed" to vote for women.

Though not exclusively, this trait is most acute among men without a college degree. And as the achievement gap / educational attainment gap between young men and young women in higher education continues to widen, this trend is going to get worse by 2028, not better.

Creed II and Toxic Masculinity

I saw Creed II last night. The real villain of the film was a criminal mastermind named Toxic Masculinity - which repeatedly pushed two men into a televised arena so they could beat each other to a bloody pulp.

The prize wasn't money or a fancy belt; Creed and Drago were competing to "win" basic human needs like love, honor, self-respect, a sense of belonging, and life purpose. It's hard not to feel sorry for guys trapped within a society that would make such brutal conditions necessary in order to be accepted as men.