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Unconditional Love’s for Women, Children, and Dogs [1]

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Date: 2023-04-16  

The folks at Daily Kos devote themselves thankfully to fighting the resurgence of fascism in the United States, into which we are currently deep. I have to feel confident that anti-fascism (centered in the Democratic Party) will win. If it doesn’t, we’ll all be dead. So I spend a lot of time thinking about what kind of world I wish for after the global civil war is over.

Understandably, a great deal of attention is focused, left and right, on gender expression. The fascists seek to decimate trans folks, the Democrats defend them. Interestingly, it is trans women who most irk the right. Ron Desantis has focused his cutting knife on academic interest in gender and gender expression. Fascism has a telling fascination with gender expression that violates the binary of male-female. Obviously, fascists are people who feel threatened by un-masculine men and un-feminine women.

A lot of talk has happened over the fact that fascism resides in rural communities. Some commentators have pointed out that working-class men (both rural and urban), and their female supporters make up the fascist movement. Why have so many men gone over into fascism?

That’s a huge question. This essay can only point to a beginning of an answer to the question. Readers are going to have to go the rest of the way in their own hearts. But we’re all going to have to confront the Masculine Man and figure out whether we can love him as much as we love non-binary or trans folks. He’s part of the world, therefore he will have to be part of the world going forward, regardless of the endless tantrums and mass shootings in which he’s currently engaged.

There is talk on the left of “toxic” masculinity. Toxic masculinity is nothing more than the masculinity of a particular man or a group of men synergistically that has become ill. Think cancer. We have healthy lungs, and we have sick lungs that have tumors. Toxic masculinity is an illness of masculinity. By the way, there is such a thing as toxic femininity too. The proper attitude toward a sick person is compassion and love. We seek to heal. Fascism is toxic masculinity writ large. Overcoming fascism means disarming it, and then healing it.

Of course, there are legions of masculine men in the world who support democracy, trans folks, alternative gender expressions, diversity, and a caring, cooperative society. But all men who are in touch with their manhood (their masculine power) are currently in trouble. Trans women, who did not ask for this, take center stage. Women successfully compete with men for attention in all areas of life. Women are partners. Gay folks, who used to be the butt of jokes, compete too. The rules that applied to men’s interactions with each other and the world in the 1950s have sprung apart. However, while women have been chattering non-stop for fifty years about what it means to be a woman, men have been left with no guidance whatsoever. They are alone. No wonder guns have become a material symbol for men’s manhood, which the Democratic Party apparently wants to take away.

I discovered this song by Dax on YouTube, which you may watch at your leisure. It, too, doesn’t capture but a sliver of the ultimate meaning of the crisis of masculinity. But hopefully, it’ll tweak your heartstrings. I love men and masculinity more than I can often bear. I hope you can empathize.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/16/2164204/-Unconditional-Love-s-for-Women-Children-and-Dogs

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