A Manly Podcast

White Lotus suggests men are too focused on pride, power and ego instead of thinking about their personal happiness and others they care about. It finds a way to dig inside the deepest, darkest parts of American life while making it enjoyable to watch through the vicarious vacation we get when we enter the show.

On this episode, I talk about masculinity in relation to gender roles and gender stereotypes. We get into American perceptions of gender, and how they conflict with evidence for a diversity of gender identity and gender existing not in boxes, but along a spectrum.

Watching my wife's reality shows, seeing her reactions to the big moments (even if I’m only half-watching them 😉) is delightful. Even though these shows have plenty of toxicity, they are one of the few places in American culture where we see men men trying to work through conflict in healthy and productive ways.

Men are hardly in The Substance at all, but their patriarchal values in society and culture dominate the film. I take a look at what makes this a great horror film.

Masculine identity at the Super Bowl oozes out of every pore. I give my honest take on football because I have a love-hate relationship with watching it. The football field is a space where skilled athletes play a complex and nuanced game, but tap into elements of toxic masculinity hit after hit can cause CTE and long-lasting health issues.

I start by defining masculinity, traditional masculinity, and understanding the difference between manliness and toxic masculinity. We'll get into a Pew Research Report on American perceptions of men and masculinity, and talk about it in relation to the 2024 election results. I'll wrap up by talking about my own masculinity.