NOV 21, 2024 | OPINION | By Fiona Frankel
In the months leading up to the presidential election, Donald Trump was found not in town halls and talk shows but instead spending hours exchanging banter with Joe Rogan, Theo Von and the Paul brothers. Their audience? Overwhelmingly young men.
Gender was an inevitable focus of the 2024 presidential election due to the identities of both candidates: a Black South Asian woman challenging an elderly white man known for his lewd remarks about women — who has also been found civilly liable for sexual abuse, even bragging about assault. Though we surprisingly saw the gender divide decrease in this election cycle, it is undoubtedly true that young men across the United States are flocking to Trump at an alarming rate.
Though Harris scarcely spoke about being a woman of color, it was nevertheless an implicit part of her campaign due to voter biases about her own identity. Conversely, there was a massive movement towards masculinity within the Trump campaign. At the Republican National Convention (RNC), Trump entered with “It’s a Man’s, Man’s, Man’s World” by James Brown and was introduced by Dana White, the CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), epitomizing masculine identity, and retired wrestler Hulk Hogan who struggled to tear his shirt down the middle to expose a Trump muscle tank.
It is hardly surprising that these efforts worked in harnessing the attention and votes of young men across America. Though social media has negative impacts across all genders, it has led to increased levels of isolation, loneliness and feelings of meaninglessness in boys particularly. As we’re seeing a rise in gym culture and general promotion of womanizing and toxic masculinity in media (both social and otherwise), it is clear that many young men are targets of the misogynistic, power-hungry, patriarchal undertones of the Trump campaign, which are providing them solace for their current emotional crises.
It is easy to turn a blind eye at Colorado College. Except for the occasional rumor about which lacrosse player voted red, most students assume that most men at CC either voted for Harris or didn’t vote at all. Still, progressiveness and maturity regarding gender transcend voting patterns and often manifest in more modest ways, sometimes within the basic label of feminism.
Though the data varies heavily, general patterns indicate that just over half of American women identify as feminists, and it is no surprise that the percentage of American men is far below that. Yet, when considering the true definition of feminism as equality and equity of the sexes, the idea that less than half of our country agrees with it is puzzling.
As I pondered this question, I spoke with many male peers about the subject, even asking them point-blank, “Are you a feminist?” Though their answers varied, most boiled down to a fundamental disillusionment with the feminist movement as they perceived it. Multiple men brought up the ‘Kill All Men’ phenomenon, claiming that some women center their feminist ideology around misandry. Some tiptoed around the question, explaining that they might agree with equality but that feminism as a movement is too extreme.
Some have a point. The ‘Kill All Men’ notion was never serious in practice, but it did arguably impair the inclusivity and progressivity of the feminist movement. Still, feminism cannot be redefined to make men feel more comfortable with it. When a privileged group has spent their life in that dominant position, any attempts at equality feel like (and perhaps are) attempts at subverting that dominance to elevate a marginalized group. Masculinity is portrayed through social media as dependent upon the oppression of women.
Even in the absence of ‘Kill All Men’ and other anti-male elements of fringe feminism, men are threatened by the mere sociological advancement of women. Feminism is inherently perceived as a threatening movement to most men, no matter how it is packaged for them. When self-isolating from a movement towards women’s progress, which many men view as at the expense of themselves, it is no wonder that the instinct is to move further to the right.