The New York Times had an "inspiring" feature last weekend on Will Welch's leadership of longstanding men's magazine GQ. After having received the job during the heady days of the #MeToo revelation, he has successfully ushered the magazine into an era of "new" masculine virtues:
Four years ago, when he was named the editor in chief of GQ, male journalists and male executives across the media industry were being drummed out of their jobs as their abusive behaviors came to light. And it looked like the strutting male magazine editor, once tagged with the term "dude-itor," was going extinct. ...
"In my first days as editor, I just had this language — ‘the new masculinity' — because the culture was demanding that men change, straight up," Mr. Welch said. "We are a longstanding, decades-long men's magazine. So what are we just going to do? Shoot fancy clothes and hope everybody applauds and keeps subscribing and clicking on our website? That is absurd."
"It was an important moment for us to do two things," he continued. "Reflect on this moment where the culture was demanding that men evolve, and lead; and show men what that evolution might look like."
Uh huh. Let's take a look at some of the examples of the "evolution" of men that Mr. Welch has sought to promote:
That is a dude in a down comforter styled to look like a dress. Whatever it is, it's not "masculinity." It looks like the man is wearing the dangly sponges that clean your car in a 1980s-era car wash.
Nothing about this picture is good. They legit made Brad Pitt look like a 78-year-old league bowler with some sort of terminal illness. Plus there's a lizard on his chest for some reason. This guy was once the masculine sex symbol of his generation and they just destroyed it.
That's "new masculinity" for you. In the old days a man was considered masculine when he exuded power, self-control, protectiveness, bravery. Everybody liked that guy. Robert Pattison here looks like the guy who tries to steal a lady's purse on the street only to be beat up by the actual masculine guy.
Like the word "woman," we used to know what "masculine" meant.
We forget it at our own peril.
P.S. Now check out our latest video 👇
