Sen. Josh Hawley is a right-wing juke box. Put in a quarter, and you can select any reactionary golden oldie you like. The “National Conservatism Conference” at which he spoke must have pushed the button for “Manhood.” There Josh denounced the idea of “toxic masculinity,” wailed that “manhood” is being treated as a disease, and called for a return to traditional roles — by which I’m sure he means that men give the orders and women obey. I’m sure he was enthusiastically applauded by the attendees at this convention. His topic is a favorite of his audience and he himself embodies what he had undertaken to defend. For Hawley is one of the more notable examples of latter day toxic masculinity as manifested in his desperate ambition and energetic deceit and menu of the right-wing Top Ten. 

He said something to the effect that men are being so side-lined in America that many of them are resorting to idleness, pornography, and (oh Heavens!) computer games. He lamented “Manhood, it seems, is a disease that needs to be defeated.” What can he mean by manhood? The best he can offer is a re-run of a traditional caricature, and this cartoon manhood is, he says, being ground down by persecution. But what he really means is “Yikes, guys, we’re losing control!”

As I look around the world around me, I see no diminution of “traditional manhood,” among men and among women who imitate men. But manhood is not the disease. It’s testosterone poisoning that is the ancient pandemic that we’ve not yet learned to treat.