https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/04/20/bud-light-dylan-mulvaney-masculinity/
Today’s WaPo op-ed by Brian Broome fits squarely into the dumb-ass category. In an over-the-top, straw-man fashion, Broome writes that “Perhaps to some, masculinity only means that you are self-assured, confident, not easily threatened and won’t be told what to do, what you can’t wear, whom you can love.” Who are these unidentified “some” – the people Broome points his finger at, reducing them to a macho stereotype?
When I was a kid, once a week – as a family – my parents, my siblings, and I sat down in our living room and watched a show called “Father Knows Best.” The father in that series was virtuous and compassionate, a loving husband and father, who, together with his wife, was devoted to raising his kids to be decent human beings. And he fulfilled these roles with a gentle sense of humor. He seemed like a good role model to me, though he never seemed to fit a Broomean notion of masculinity. He wasn’t reducible “to a recipe” of “one part stoicism, two parts anger, three parts lust, four parts control over women.” He wasn’t concerned about feeling threatened or being told what to do or what he couldn’t wear or whom he could love. He wasn’t focused on himself at all.
He was focused on and committed to the people he lived with and loved. Not a bad role model for the 1950s or the 2020s.