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Masculinity in America
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What does it mean to be a "man" in America? This has not been an easy question to answer for quite some time, perhaps ever, but in recent years it has become a big social and political issue. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote a book where he argued that women should not serve in combat roles and that efforts to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion had made the US military weak and "effeminate." Political candidates and pundits have argued that women shouldn't have the right to vote. Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson produced a documentary arguing that we're facing the "end of men," due to "collapsing testosterone levels." Elon Musk and VP JD Vance are part of a "pro-natalist" movement that wants to roll-back social gains made by women in the name of increasing the birth rate. And Fox News hosts have argued that Trump's tariffs will make the US economy more "manly."
What is going on? Why have gender and gender roles become major political issues? To understand this, we need to consider the ways that politics, the economy, and society have always been gendered in the United States. This creates an environment where changes in gender roles and social structures can become major political issues. To this traditional source we can add social media, which contributes to the radicalization of young men already alienated by economic and social change.
For today's conversation we welcome Dr. Lee Thorpe, Assistant Professor of Sociology, to help us understand these issues and more. Dr. Thorpe joined the faculty at SUNY Plattsburgh as the PRODiG Fellow in Fall 2022. He received his Ph.D. in Sociology from West Virginia University, a Master of Arts in Humanities and Social Thought from New York University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Stony Brook University. During his master’s program, Dr. Thorpe studied abroad in the Netherlands and took part in the Summer Institute on Sexuality, Culture, and Society at the University of Amsterdam. His primary areas of research and teaching interests are in sexualities, gender, social psychology, and sociological theory.