How many times has it been asked “where are the men?” Sometimes this is uttered by those who preach primarily to woman while other times the question is posed with genuine intentions. It is a catchy tagline in our society. When asked in church settings, it garners attention. Though certain applications might lack self-awareness, the question is poignant to the times we live. Just as Make America Great Again expresses the implication that America is in decline, so too does the question “Where are the men?” articulate the lack of masculinity permeating in our society.
Counterfeit Masculinity
Nature abhors a vacuum. Seeking homeostasis, no void is left unfilled. The deficiency in masculinity does not go unreplenished and there is no shortage of sins that man takes up in falling short of true masculinity. Thus, as false gospels and religions arise to fill man’s innate heart for worship, so too does counterfeit masculinity circulate to fill this void. In the realm of masculinity, many fall prey to false prophets of masculinity, who perhaps while having some utility, ultimately fall short and distract from God’s divine plan for masculinity that was embodied in His creation of Adam and perfectly modeled by Christ.
Many have taken a liking to the irreverent personalities of Joe Rogan and Elon Musk as epitomes of masculinity. In truth, they embody a lost audacity that has been neutered in recent generations. There is an ability to equip reason and logic to draw independent conclusions that the two figures possess, yet Rogan is not steadfast, as he apologized to the mob for previous use of the n-word despite claiming he would never, and Musk is a mercurial technocrat with transhumanist tendencies. Both Musk and Rogan have expressed support for Ron DeSantis, not because his politics aligns with theirs, but because they align with the temperament of DeSantis, who encompasses the bravado of Donald Trump without the egotistical baggage, which is perhaps tempered by his Catholic faith.
Others have taken to false prophets of masculinity, in which I would ascribe Jordan Peterson, who offers self-help to a predominantly male market. He portrays himself in a grandfatherly fashion yet is morally compromised on the pertinent issues of feminism and homosexuality which undermine masculinity. No amount of Jungian archetypes and allegorical readings of Scripture can mask the fact that Peterson’s masculinity is equivalent to Dave Rubin’s conservatism. Others in this category would include Jesse Lee Peterson, who projects the Oedipus complex as Original Sin.
Then there are the grifters of masculinity, which is most encapsulated by the Jack Murphy (John Goldstein) phenomenon. Murphy was known for being an internet personality who sold masculinity to his online community behind a paywall only to be exposed for being a digital cuckhold. The grifters of masculinity portend a masculine image as expected by society for personal benefit only to be whitewashed tombs in their personal lives.
The last major counterfeit distinct from the others is the Reactionary. The most prominent categories of Reactionary is that of the Trad and the Incel, short for involuntary celibate. As the latter’s descriptor would imply, there is a defined rejection of Man’s calling to fulfill the Dominion Mandate through participation in marriage. Perhaps this is born out a nihilism or toxic exposures to select internet rabbit holes, but there is a growing apathy within younger generations of men against marriage. Movements like MeToo, divorce laws, the branding of toxic masculinity, and the societal demonization of men have given way to this reactionary distraction. One does not have to be Nick Fuentes to have internalized the damage caused by Feminism, of which the incel is the extremity. Another version of Reactionary would be the heightened fetishization of Tradition via Catholic or Orthodox faith traditions. Many have taken to these faith traditions not out of their spiritual or doctrinal significance but as bastions of societal tradition. They see these institutions as the foundational to the West and their eroded influence as leading to the present instability. This undergirds the intrigue some possess with men like Vladimir Putin, who is secular Trad but appeals to Russian Orthodoxy.
Chemical Warfare
Genetically, men are as lions, with intrinsic qualities towards strength and achievement of great physical feats, yet even the mighty lion can become domesticated and conditioned against its basic instinct. Generations of feminism have wrought the emasculation of men, but it cannot be ignored the chemical warfare that has coincided with this ideological conditioning.
The current generation of men has lower testosterone levels than previous generations. A 2007 study in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism found a decline in T-levels since 1980 which was controlled for a variety of lifestyle factors and stratified by age. A 60 year old in 1987 had 17% higher testosterone levels than their counterpart in 2004. A 2010 Danish study found a similar 14% decline between men born in the 1920’s and 1960’s.
A study published in the Journal of Urology found a stark decline in their results:
A total of 4,045 men had TT measured from 1999-2016. After controlling for confounders, TT was lower among men in the later (2011-2016) versus earlier (1999-2000) cycles (all p < 0.001). Mean TT decreased over time: 605.39 ng/dL, 567.44, 424.96, 431.76 and 451.22 for 1999-2000, 2003-2004, 2011-2012, 2013-2014 and 2015-2016, respectively (p < 0.0001). Elevated BMI was associated with reduced TT levels (p < 0.0001) with mean BMI increasing from 25.83, 27.21, 27.12, 27.81, 27.96 for 1999-2000, 2003-2004, 2011-2012, 2013-2014 and 2015-2016, respectively, p = 0.0006. Even in men with normal BMI (18.5-24.9), TT levels have declined from 664.79 ng/dL to 529.24 ng/dL between 1999-2000 and 2015-2016 (p < 0.05). [Emphasis Added]
Total Testosterone levels (TT) decreased 25.47% between the 1999-2000 cycle and the 2015-1016 cycle. In controlling for BMI, as obesity decreases TT, this decline was 20.39%. The study found low TT to be prevalent in 20% of males 15-39. Low TT is detrimental to male health in areas of memory and concentration, depression, infertility, muscular development, bone density, and fatigue.
The cause is largely unknown. The studies in question are age independent and attempt to weed out the impact of medical conditions like obesity and smoking, both of which objectively effect TT. It is speculated that the lack of manual labor decreased TT, but the one cause that requires more study is the impact of chemicals. Bisphenol A (BPA), which is found in everyday plastics, has been linked to reproductive problems and chemically inhibits testosterone.
Other causal, though not definitive, links to lower testosterone have been noted between processed foods, soy, and vegetable oils. Regardless, the emphasis on healthy diet and exercise cannot be understated in its importance to resolving the masculinity problem.
The other effect of chemical warfare is the infertility of men through lower sperm counts. It is not just women who are targeted for depopulation through vaccination, but men have likewise experienced sperm count declines nearing 60% since 1973. Given the aforementioned drop in TT, there is likely overlap between causes of reduced TT and sperm count.
This is without investigating the exhaustive list of male athletes dropping dead from poisonous Covid injections which adversely impact the hearts of males disproportionately to females. Then there is the over prescription of SSRI and antidepressants to resolve a “chemical imbalance” that scientist are only now beginning to question. The theory of serotonin imbalance has largely been assumed, not proven, yet this misconception fueled an industry expected to grow to $17 billion annually by 2027. Society wants to blame firearms for mass shootings when a common correlation between Dylann Roof, James Holmes, Eric Harris, Cho Seung-Hui, and other mass shooters have been known to be on antidepressants and SSRI’s. Instead of curbing the evils before they metastasize, the worldly solution comes in the form of a pill that is prone to numbing the senses. These are spiritual problems, not chemical ones, but yet another instance where Pharma is prioritized over people.
Then there is the use of synthetic food dyes leading to learning disorders and hyperactivity (ADHD) that has become commonplace in current generations of youth.
There truly is something in the water and if the crisis is to be solved, then there must be a renewed emphasis on healthy living as a responsibility and a conscientiousness to the chemicals we intake into our bodies.
Prolonged Adolescence
Just as there is the question of “Where are the men?” so too has the phrase “boys who can shave” entered our lexicon. This image of a man who is physically developed does not itself make the man. Just because a male can shave does not make him a man, but consequently an overgrown child. Adolescence is a modern invention. David was a teenager when he took to the fields as Israel’s champion against Goliath, killing him with the sling and decapitating him post-mortem. By that time, he had already defended the sheep against wild predators. Likewise, the Apostles were not much older than David when chosen by Christ for His earthly ministry in which they performed miracles, traveled the land, and fished the Sea of Galilee. Peter, being around 20 and married, is assumed to have been the oldest of the twelve.
They had no public school until the age of eighteen or college education which continued into the twenties. Instead of public school, they were forced to undertake responsibilities. Though recent attempts have been made to elevate STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math), which are ideal fields for men, the societal push is to advance women and minorities into these fields while the system indoctrinates youths into entering college when there are viable, skilled labor positions in trade fields that are necessary services. Education is a positive facet, but the education system as currently designed fosters this concept of adolescence which breeds the emasculation of our society.
Instead of marriages in their early twenties, the standard impressed upon our youth encourages this notion of going to college before settling down. As a result, the average age of a man entering marriage is 30.4, an all-time high. Feminism and the sexual revolution have ushered in this era of promiscuity which allows a segment of men to fornicate with loose women and thereby avoid the responsibilities associated with proper courtship. Marriage matures a man. Fatherhood changes his core. It impacts his work ethic and transforms his outlook on life, providing additional responsibility and purpose, to which they are ultimately accountable. It fulfills God’s calling for Man to be fruitful and multiply.
There is often a truism espoused that “Women are the gatekeepers of sex; Men are the gatekeepers of relationships” but this is a cliché misconception. Historically, men would have been in control over both as romance is a relatively modern invention and marriage was seen more as duty to family with dowries and classism factoring into one’s eligibility. It is even traditional for a man to petition a woman’s father for her hand in marriage, which emphasizes the significance the woman’s father has in the marriage of his daughter. There was always a suave involved for men and a desirability component on behalf of women, but dating was formalized with intentions for marriage. Otherwise, it is a mistress or the behavior is characteristic of oat-sowing. The modern dating market has flipped these dynamics. Every dating app has a disproportionate amount of men seeking a shortage of women, which is evident in the three largest dating apps: Tinder is 76%, Hinge is 64%, and Bumble is 67% male. This imbalance of supply and demand gives the power over to women to the detriment of marital formations, thus disproving this axiom. Worsening this is the notion is the 80-20 rule where 80% of women find only 20% of men attractive and the fact that college educated women are the most liberal demographic in America.
Tragically, the fruits of feminism and promiscuity, along with the education system, have led to a deferment of this calling. The sitcom Seinfeld featured a cast of dysfunctional characters who were engaged in prolonged adolescence, remaining unmarried, hopping from failed relationships, and ultimately indulging in their juvenile self-interests. They refused to grow up. While that was comedy, the reality is tragedy.
Hypersexualized Society
One of the signs of decadence is the sexualization of society. They sexualized, seedy underbelly is a primary motif in Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, whereby the licentious conditions of New York were juxtaposed with the hope represented by Palantine who campaigns to clean up the mess. At one point, even Hollywood recognized this connection, and the movie is very much illustrative to the reality of NYC that the eventual Mayor Rudy Giuliani would cleanse.
For America, there was no singular cause to this sexualization of our society, and if we look throughout history, there is no shortage of sexual sins that have been pervasive throughout a given society, whether it be the Greco-Roman orgy, temple prostitution, royal harems, etc. The American experience is more shaped by the rise of Feminism, where women were encouraged to participate without fear of consequence, the rampancy of pornography, the normalization of degeneracy, now the grooming of the next generation.
Traditionalist Generation (pre-boomer) married in their early twenties. The Boomers were enticed into the sexual revolution whose broken homes and marriages were normalized by Gen X. Millennials came to age with the advent of internet pornography which has bombarded Gen Z, whose average age of exposure is 11.
Previous generations of Christians would have celebrated the decline in sexual activity amongst teenagers, but the underlying cause is not one of the Spirit, but the spirit of the age. This same study also found that 97% of teens who had engaged in intercourse had used condoms as protection, thus disproving the notion they require “sex education” to know about these things. Rather than being damaged by youthful promiscuity, they are instead being damaged by pornography that is far more graphic than a Playboy magazine. Combined with online socialization and two years of learning loss, large swaths of our youth have been damaged by these various societal plagues which will inhibit future masculinity.
Child molesters do not always begin with overt physical acts, but rather, they might groom the child into their trust before violating them through methods that include exposure to pornography. The sexual grooming desired by liberal public schools is mass production molestation. Instead of magazines depicting nude women, it is graphic novels of explicit acts and kinks in school library reading material. By design, it confuses and distorts, functioning as a sexual narcotic which then alters the brain—harkening back to Chemical Warfare. For the average child, the damage by the schools pales in comparison to a child rapist, yet there are plenty of individual cases where schools are gender-grooming children without parental consent to make permanent life altering decisions equivalent in damage to molestation.
It is joked that men have two brains or think with their phallus. A generation of men unable to form relationships and addicted to pornography has become a recipe for disaster which we have endured.
Castration through Propaganda
Propaganda works. It cannot be understated the effectiveness propaganda has on a societal scale. It was propaganda which ushered in the religion of Branch Covidianism, creating widespread global hysteria over the original Covid strain. Our entire civilization was uprooted and economies destroyed in part over fear-driven propaganda. The war in Ukraine has relied heavily on propaganda campaigns to sell America on the virtues of Ukraine’s President Zelensky, who was previously the recipient to Trump’s infamous “perfect phone call” in which he was impeached by Congress. The same guy who was on the receiving end of foreign policy “bribery” became the George Washington of Eastern Europe. Entire nations as North Korea and China are brainwashed by their regimes’ propaganda campaigns, which perhaps effects the Christians in China being friendly to the state.
Masculinity has likewise been subverted through decades of propaganda. It used to be that the Marlboro Man or the western cowboy types were the epitomes of masculinity. Societal images of masculinity always emphasized heroism/courage, chivalry/honor, warrior/athletes, and this is seen across cultures throughout history. Men have been protectors, providers, adventurers, and those more educated, scholars. This was perceived as the ideal despite innumerable shortcomings. The current propaganda undermines masculinity, decrying it as toxic. In order to combat this myth of toxic masculinity, traditional male roles have been transposed onto women while men have continuously been depicted as incompetent idiots. With exception to King of the Hill, every major animated TV father was portrayed as an unintelligent buffoon. It was not enough however, to portray women as inherently smarter than men, but to replace them entirely. In the past decade, Hollywood has emasculated Luke Skywalker for Rey Palpatine, decried toxic masculinity in Star Trek, replaced the male Marvel Cinematic Universe with the M-She-U, and effeminized Lord of The Rings through Amazon Prime. The largest pop cultural franchises in the past score have all been feminized and emasculated.
But the propaganda goes beyond Hollywood. Gillette—the best a man can get—is pro homo and promotes feminism. The US Armed Forces have targeted women through their recruitment efforts instead of the traditional male demographic who served this country against real threats. Now it is women in combat, the draft, and pregnant flight suits while the Army makes advertisements platforming gayness. As a result, recruitment numbers are down. It is unsurprising that the army, as of August, was only 52% of its recruitment goals for FY2022, which ends in September!
The push behind Critical Race Theory in schools is further to undermine masculinity, amongst other things. Tell white boys they are privileged and advantaged and therefore must repent of being racist. Functionally, these teachings emasculate men through blame and hen-pecked guilt, as exhibited by the exhaustive list of woke preachers and leftist journalists. Tell black boys the system is inherently racist against them results and the result is nihilism and strife, which is mirrored in rap music and criminal subcultures. The breakdown of the black family came from lack of men at the headship and was replaced by the black matriarchy, yet society would rather preach that the criminal justice system and other systems are inherently racist. What better way to destroy masculinity than be absolved of accountability for one’s personal conduct?
Church For Men
Where are the Men? The real question should be, “Is the church built for men?” It is a walking cliché for a Christian to posit that the Church is the answer, as it ultimately is, but the reality is many modern churches are built for women. The church growth and seeker-sensitive model promulgated by Rick Warren and others resulted in an emasculated church that seeks comfort over confrontation. They sought the appeal of the suburbanite soccer mom through soft seats and theologically shallow, contemporary music.
Since women are politically democrat by a margin of 15%, and men are politically republican by a margin of 18%, it is reasonable to conclude that the seeker sensitive model that appeals to women will indulge in liberalism. Instead of setting the temperature, they will reflect the culture, embracing CRT, soft-peddling homosexuality, promoting Covid narratives and lockdowns, and tone policing congregants.
This is not to say that the church should shill for the GOP, but the political divide in America is increasingly one of masculinity versus feminism, and too many churches preach feminism from the pulpit, and that applies even to those with exclusively male preachers. That is why the SBC refuses to condemn women and through the ERLC contravenes legislation that would hold women responsible for abortion, despite unambiguous biblical standards regarding murder and documented first century history of the Church condemning abortion. Weak theology and compromise come from feminism.
Just as the Republican Party is a limp-wristed opposition to the Democrats, so too is Complementarianism an inadequate response to Egalitarianism, which is inherently rooted in feminism. Churches must preach Patriarchy, which is unambiguous in Scripture (Ephesians 5:22-33). Properly understood, a heightened emphasis on male headship and subsequent accountability paired with difficult truths will better cultivate a culture of masculinity as opposed to pop-psychology on Sunday Morning.
The void of masculinity is not limited to its impact on men, but affects the overall health of a society. So go the men, so goes the nation. In order for there to be revival, there must be a renewal of manhood. Instead of modeling the First Adam, we must advocate the Second Adam, who was the perfection of Masculinity.
One Response
Evangelicalism falls, among the many reasons, is feminized Christology.