Tragic Heterosexuality and Toxic Masculinity

What do women want? According to one University of California at Riverside professor, the answer to the mystery which haunted Sigmund Freud is: other women. What do men want? The same professor believes the answer is that men want to be freed from the straightjacket of toxic masculinity, enabling them to enjoy more feminism and gender “equity”* in their relationships.

UC Riverside’s Jane Ward, author of The Tragedy of Heterosexuality and professor of – wait for it - Gender and Sexuality Studies, gave an interview with Insider last month in which she declared that surveys taken during the coronavirus pandemic have exposed the “tragedy” of lackluster heterosexual sex and the ongoing misogyny of heterosexual men. “She feels sorry for straight people, especially straight women, who typically report some of the lowest sexual satisfaction in society, Ward told Insider. But she also feels sorry for straight men, who are pigeon-holed into toxic-masculine culture that teaches them they both need, and yet should also demean, women.”

Ward’s book has been praised by The New York Times Book Review (naturally) and by something called Bitch magazine, which referred to the book as “a loving lesbian intervention.” She interviewed almost 100 men, women, and “non-binary” people of various sexual orientations about their thoughts on heterosexuality, and concluded that “from an LGBT perspective,” being straight “looks actually very tragic.” It’s unclear if Ward interviewed anyone about non-binary relationships and whether they look tragic from a heterosexual perspective.

As an example, one “queer” European white female told Ward she felt sorry for her straight female friends for having to put up with relationships with “a cruel, insensitive, self-centered, or simply boring man.” The implication is that straight men are typically cruel, insensitive, self-centered, and boring, and that their partners would be happier in “queer” relationships because women aren’t ever cruel, insensitive, self-centered, or boring.

“Straight culture is based in a presumption that men and women are really different kinds of people, that they want different things, that they have different interests, and that they are sort of opposite,” Ward claims. “And they come together sexually and romantically because opposites attract.” No, they come together sexually and romantically because they are biologically and emotionally complementary, not opposites. In any case, Ward’s view is that heterosexuality is not just tragic but also a danger to society, since “binary” traditions such as gender-reveal parties and large weddings have resulted in wildfires and coronavirus deaths.

Snarky Celebs Give Melania a Hateful Sendoff

Remember those halcyon days of yesteryear when American comedians managed to poke fun at politicians on both sides of the aisle and make all Americans laugh together, instead of dividing us by mocking grotesque stereotypes of Americans in flyover country? Remember when late-night television was dominated by Johnny Carson, who managed to make clever quips about current events without descending into vicious snark aimed at half the country?

That is a distant memory, and our culture is immeasurably the worse for it. Now the Left enjoys total political domination in the field of entertainment, and late-night TV features a gaggle of uniformly leftist comedians/hosts who spent eight years refusing to mock Progressive Messiah Barack Obama, and the subsequent four years spewing increasingly angry nightly monologues about the Man Who Is Not Obama who occupied the White House until last week.

And not just Donald Trump, but his wife Melania as well, whom they despise because she is not Michelle Obama. In fact, The CBS Late Show, hosted by the eminently punchable and politically uninsightful Stephen Colbert, gave the First Lady an insulting musical sendoff Wednesday as she and her husband prepared to leave the White House.

Colbert’s comedy chops are only slightly less worthless than those of fellow propagandist/faux comedian Seth Myers from the NBC version of Colbert’s show, Late Night With Seth Myers. Myers, you may recall (but more likely not), is most notable as the unfunniest Saturday Night Live alumnus in the leftist propaganda outlet’s 45-year history.

But I digress. Colbert, as I was saying, decided an appropriate way to celebrate Kamala Harris’ new administration was by offering up a hateful roasting of Melania Trump the evening after her dignified farewell address. He began by slamming the former First Lady for not issuing a denunciation of the Capitol Hill violence earlier this month swiftly enough – not that anything would have been quick enough to satisfy the Left.

Friday Must-Reads 1/15/21

This week's must-reads, several of them by brilliant people I'm honored to call friends:

"Cancelling the Classics? The Woke Crowd Comes for Homer's 'Odyssey'" by Matthew Pheneger at The Imaginative Conservative.

"Boys to Men," by Anthony Esolen at Crisis Magazine.

"Spirit Murder, Lizard Brains and the Abolition of Whiteness" by my friend Larry Sand at the California Policy Center.

"Conservatives -- we have to be our own deus ex machina" by my friend Andrea at Bookworm Room.

"Driving Out the Scapegoat" by my friend Bruce Thornton at FrontPage Mag.

"The Virtue of the New Totalitarians" by Roger Kimball at American Greatness.

"Institutionalized Obedience: Americans & the Lockdowns" by Habi Zhang at The Imaginative Conservative.

The Left's Weapon of Mass Instruction

For anyone in Southern California next week, I'll be speaking to the Rancho Mirage Republican Women Federated group at their upcoming noon luncheon at the Agua Caliente Resort there on Wednesday, January 20 -- inauguration day, no less.

I'll be speaking -- in person, not via Zoom -- on a topic I've written about recently: "The Left's Weapon of Mass Instruction" -- the cultural Marxist indoctrination of our children that is metastasizing throughout our nation's educational system, but I'll be trying to cover ground even beyond that in a short talk.

If that's the kind of thing that sounds like fun to you, either seek professional help or come check it out if you're in the area.

Friday Must-Reads

 

Time for another Friday collection of important articles from the week that grabbed my attention. As always, inclusion here means I generally support the arguments but do not necessarily agree with every sentence or with the authors themselves on other issues. Check 'em out:

"The Neighborhood Stands Between Us and Totalitarianism" by Annie Holmquist at Intellectual Takeout.

"My New Year's Resolution: Have More Enemies" by David Deavel at Imaginative Conservative.

"Why I Believe in Islam" by Fr. James Schall at Crisis Magazine.

 "No, Erasing White Authors From School Won't Help Kids Read Better" by Joy Pullman at The Federalist.

"Letter From a Struggling Young Man" by Rod Dreher at The American Conservative.

"Back to the Past to Find Strength For the Future" by Jeff Minick at Intellectual Takeout.

And two from Victor Davis Hanson: "Defenders of Civilization" at American Greatness and "Is the Wisdom of Homer Immune to Cancel Culture" at Patriot Post.

Congress' Gender 'Inclusivity' Jumps the Shark

Democrat Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, who is also a pastor at St. James United Methodist Church of Kansas City, Missouri, delivered the opening prayer for the 117th Congress last Sunday. After invoking “the God known by many names and faith,” he closed the prayer, of course, with “Amen.” Then, in a moment of shark-jumping absurdity, he added, “and A-woman,” apparently ascribing gender to the word “Amen” and attempting to be inclusive of the female sex.

As a pastor (with a Master of Divinity degree, no less), surely Cleaver cannot be unaware that “amen” comes from Hebrew filtered through Greek and Latin, and means “truly” or “so be it.” Was he seriously suggesting that the word somehow excludes women? Even people who are ignorant of its etymology understand that “amen” is the traditional conclusion of a usually Christian or Jewish prayer and has nothing to do with the male sex. In addition to Cleaver’s theologically confused appeal to a “God known by many names and faith,” his “a-woman” remark was the most idiotic feminist virtue-signaling since the corruption of the word “history” to “herstory.”

Cleaver unashamedly shared a video of the prayer on social media and was swiftly and justifiably roasted on Twitter. “Bruh you do know what Amen means, right?” wrote one commenter. Another respondent tweeted, “’Amen and awomen’? Is there a stupidity contest this year in government?” To that, someone replied, “Cleaver is off to an early lead.” Newt Gingrich tweeted, “perfect House Democrat prayer ending as House Dems focus on gender security by abolishing virtually every normal gender term [like father and mother].”

What Gingrich was referring to was the new House rules package for the 117th Congress, approved in a 217-to-206 vote on Monday, which “includes sweeping ethics reforms, increases accountability for the American people, and makes this House of Representatives the most inclusive in history,” according to a statement from the Committee. The package includes the establishment of a “Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth,” which will require Congress to “honor all gender identities by changing pronouns and familial relationships in the House rules to be gender neutral.”

Ergo, in clause 8(c)(3) of rule XXIII, perfectly normal terms which describe those “familial relationships,” such as “father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, first cousin, nephew, niece, husband, wife, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, stepfather, stepmother, stepson, stepdaughter, stepbrother, stepsister, half brother, half sister, grandson, or granddaughter,” must be eliminated because they are “gendered” and will offend the bullying transgender lobby.

Friday Must-Reads

 

Time for another dose of Friday Must-Reads, articles which caught my attention this week. As always with these Must-Reads, I generally approve of the arguments but not necessarily with every idea or sentence.

"Hurtling Toward Totalitarianism" by Julian Christopher at New Discourses

 "2020: The Year in European Islam" by my friend Bruce Bawer at FrontPage Magazine

"Cancel Cult Comes for Homer" by Rod Dreher at American Conservative, and in a related piece, "Stupiditas Omnia Vincit" by Christopher Coulombe at Crisis Magazine

Also by Dreher: "West Point & Critical Race Theory," about the cheating scandal there.

"2020: The Year We Lost Our Common Sense, Courage, and Civil Liberties" by Robert Bridge at the Strategic Culture Foundation

"What to Worship, How to Obey: The New Rules of Cancel Culture" by Peter Wood at the new Deep Dives Into Critical Issues blog run by my friend, documentary filmmaker Gloria Greenfield

"When Being Woke Becomes Criminal -- and Deadly" by my friend Andrea at her must-follow Bookworm Room blog

"Make America Beautiful Again" by Francis Lee at Crisis Magazine

And a belated Christmas reflection by George Weigel at First Things, "What the Magi Teach Us."