By Christian Cullen, Staff Writer 

In the past couple of years, we have heard the phrase “toxic masculinity” many times. Its meaning ranges from the male breadwinner ideal to the glorification of violence and the male need to participate in it.

 Think of the mantra“boys don’t cry.” Well, nowadays, they do, along with myriad other social reconstructions that have allowed us guys to become more in touch with our emotions. However, with each action, there is a reaction. 

One reaction of interest is towards the increasing gender gap — not in wages but in areas such as politics and education. Specifically, many young men have shifted to the right politically, while women have shifted to the left. We now have a generation of cis straight men who continue to shift further away from women in just about every metric, especially politically, but why? 

I think the answer lies in loneliness and Donald Trump. 

The loneliness crisis is America’s most silent one. One in five men reported having no close friends just a few years ago, and while that may be partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, that statistic should be horrifying. As loneliness compounds, there are various routes one can go down. The most prevalent and easy one to fall into is a spiral of frustration, jealousy and anger.

 These emotions find common ground in the experience of feeling out of control in your own life. Additionally, people who feel out of control of their own lives and who are afraid when encountering the right political figure can suddenly find a place to channel those emotions. Enter Donald Trump.

Trump has always pitched himself as the man’s man. Before his foray into politics, he was a swashbuckling womanizer in New York City and a millionaire thanks to his savvy real estate decisions. He wrote a bestseller, had his own TV show and surrounded himself with models and conventionally attractive women at every turn. As a politician, he states he’s going to fight for you because you’ve been left behind. He’s going to say it like it is, consequences be damned. He will give you the control back.

This message is intoxicating to the American man who is feeling like his masculinity is under attack. The emerging fragility occurring around what it means to be a man is a large factor in why so many men have shifted their politics to the right. The right hearkens back to a time when “men were men,” whatever that actually means.

 At a pro-Trump rally earlier this year, Hulk Hogan showed up and ripped his shirt off to reveal a Trump-Vance tank top while flexing his muscles. This conflation of the conventional masculine physical appeal with a political campaign is the perfect representation of this phenomenon. The association of the right with conventional masculine ideals serves as a gathering place for those men who feel fragile in their own masculine identity.

There are hundreds more examples I could bring up. There are shirts out there of Trump, edited to be extremely muscular, holding a machine gun with a bald eagle in the background. This fantastical representation of a political candidate, among many, many others, reinforces the masculine appeal of Trump and implicitly asserts that the opposing side is a more feminine one. 

There are other sources of proof, such as various Instagram accounts like OldRow and Barstool, that cater to young men and often reinforce these views as well. These accounts provide an additional community where the allure of the right’s beliefs can sink its teeth into more young men who are fearful and angry about the evolving world. 

Young American men are not in a crisis solely because they have shifted to the right politically. Rather, these are the underlying reasons why I am concerned for them. As political polarization across genders continues, it will only become easier for the right to stoke fears about the advancement of women in an attempt to sway more male voters. 

It is not a belief in lower taxes and a small government but rather a restoration of the traditional male role that motivates the rightward shift in young men. The alienation of young men is quickly increasing their radicalization towards an uglier version of American politics. Young men are having their fears and emotions preyed upon in increasingly vulgar, dehumanizing rhetoric. 

This problem is only going to snowball from here. I may not have a solution now, but there is a massive, unheard-of crisis in America. The loneliness crisis is staring us in the face and all we can do in this moment is try to reach out to those around us.