Bloomberg offers a valuable, well-documented discussion of the key role that a number of YouTube "influencers" played in pushing young males towards Donald Trump in the last election:

William Lindsey :toad:

I do want to offer a few words of criticism re: something Taylor Lorenz says in the article linked in /3 and /4. The quote I share in /4 is followed by this statement:

"These messages resonated heavily with a generation of young people who have felt overlooked and disenfranchised."

These messages did not resonate with young PEOPLE. They resonated with young MEN.

#Trump #males #men #YoungMen #masculinity #YouTube
/5

William Lindsey :toad:

Young WOMEN did not vote for Trump Young men did so.

That's the very point of what the Bloomberg study finds.

To speak of "young people" is to disguise the reality of what we're dealing with here, and to ignore the fact that gender is central to the political shift that took place in this election, as young men voted for Trump while young women did not do so.

#Trump #males #men #YoungMen #masculinity #YouTube
/6

William Lindsey :toad:

And so the problem is not being "overlooked and disenfranchised," as Lorenz says.

The problem is that younger men are willing recipients of toxic messages around masculinity, of the message that being born with a penis should give one automatic privilege and status denied to those born without a penis. The message that men should be entitled and dominant, just because. And women should be subordinate and controlled by men, just because.

#Trump #males #men #YoungMen #masculinity #YouTube
/7

William Lindsey :toad:

All this is deeply compounded by the choice of way too many young men to refuse to educate themselves, to seek educational opportunities — and this is in contrast to the choices being made by young women on the whole.

The sense of entitlement, that one should have privilege and be dominant just because, without seeking to educate oneself and to work for what one seeks to obtain in life: this is toxic messaging. And young men are listening.

#Trump #males #men #YoungMen #masculinity #YouTube
/8

William Lindsey :toad:

@mastodonmigration @paco Yes! Absolutely. As you were posting this, I was adding a set of notes to my excerpts yesterday from Taylor Lorenz, making those very same points.

Mastodon Migration

@wdlindsy @paco

The statistics are shocking.

"The gender distribution has flipped over the course of a 55-year period. While men had a 58 percent share of total enrollment in 1970, by 2025 they are estimated to have a 43 percent share with the women’s share reaching 57 percent... Of a total fall undergraduate enrollment of over 19 million in 2025, women will constitute 10.9 million undergraduates compared to 8.3 million men."

Higher Education Enrollment Trends by Gender, 1970 to 2025

There has been a sea change in college enrollment when it comes to gender over the past half century. The three graphics below illustrate the percentage distribution of men versus women enrolled as…

(educationalpolicy.org)

William Lindsey :toad:

@FallsMom I think that many younger men have succumbed to the message being transmitted to them by online influencers that everything should flow easily to them because they are men — and that when things don't flow easily to them, they should resent women, who are, they want to believe, impeding them. Hence the interest in gambling, online gaming, get-rich-quick schemes involving cryptocurrency, etc. Meanwhile, younger women are going to school, seeking education, and outpacing young men.

William Lindsey :toad:

@mastodonmigration @paco Yes — thank you for those great graphs, which I hadn't seen.

trumpresistance

@wdlindsy
And there are those who say the Christian Bible requires male domination, so they get to say God wills it.

William Lindsey :toad:

@trumpresistance Oh, yes, for sure — many world religions are dominated by men, who claim that they have unique authority to interpret their sacred texts or religious symbols, and who use that claim to try to subordinate and subjugate women. The global resistance to women's rights is deeply embedded in religious resistance across quite a few religious bodies around the world.

Mastodon Migration

@wdlindsy

Absolutely.

The experts also talk about the shifting landscape of opportunity. It is in fact true that men, particularly white men, are now in more competition for traditional 'male' jobs and good jobs are in general harder to find. This makes young men more susceptible to people telling them it is women's (and minorities) fault that they are unsuccessful.

This is not to excuse such reprehensible behavior, but rather to identify one of the contributing causes.

Mastodon Migration

@wdlindsy @paco

It's stunning. Sociologists predict it could reach 2/3 women by 2030.

Men are truly failing and the implications are profound.

Lucy B

@mastodonmigration @wdlindsy @paco

I highly recommend this. Basically, sexism is why this is happening. Once women dominate an arena, men flee.
https://mementomori.social/@undefined_variable/113755708976880845

Ivey Janette McClelland

@wdlindsy @paco They'd rather sit at home and watch TV all day.

William Lindsey :toad:

@mastodonmigration @paco And as this happens, as men increasingly fall behind and scorn educating themselves (ourselves, since I'm a man), the only option left, if they/we don't try to reverse course and recognize that we need education, knowledge, learning, is to descend into brutality.

To try to force others to accept our imaginary superiority, and to subjugate women and strip them of rights….

William Lindsey :toad:

@IveyJanette @paco Yes — and watch video clips online, game online, etc.

William Lindsey :toad:

@lucybeahere @mastodonmigration @paco Thank you for this great link and this information.

William Lindsey :toad:

@mastodonmigration Yes — in the same way that many people want to blame immigrants, with no basis whatsoever. This is where I circle back again to education: learning to see the world correctly, to base our analysis on facts and sound research, opens our eyes to the fact that women and immigrants aren't taking things from men, that human rights are not a zero-sum game.

Mastodon Migration

@lucybeahere @wdlindsy @paco

Absolutely. Excellent article!

And there is an entire ecosystem of grifters pulling them in and channeling their anger against women. Checknout the links elsewhere in this thread.

And if you have the time this 4 part podcast is excellent on the subject:

we’re talking about the manosphere the wrong way - Sixteenth Minute (of Fame) | iHeart

The manosphere isn't just one of the election's biggest trending topics, it's also one of the biggest outputters of internet main characters -- so why have most of the conversations around it been so unproductive? In our first part of our series on the manosphere, Jamie interrogates the flawed ways in which media is talking about this space, and traces its origins from the 1970s all the way to Gamergate and the Isla Vista shootings. Then, she speaks with researcher Becca Lewis about where we go from here.

Follow Becca Lewis's work here: https://bsky.app/profile/beccalew.bsky.social

Men Who Hate Women by Laura Bates: https://bookshop.org/p/books/men-who-hate-women-from-incels-to-pickup-artists-the-truth-about-extreme-misogyny-and-how-it-affects-us-all-laura-bates/19662669

Backlash by Susan Faludi: https://bookshop.org/p/books/backlash-the-undeclared-war-against-american-women-susan-faludi/8728966?ean=9780307345424

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

iHeart (www.iheart.com)

Mastodon Migration

@wdlindsy

Mostly agree. The truth is that women and minorities ARE taking something away from men, their privilege.

What is interesting is the response is not to work harder to compete in this more competitive environment, but rather to react with anger and hatred. And there are no shortage of charismatic grifters urging them on. It's a toxic soup.