Hollywood's Masculinity Deficit

Actress Emma Thompson says the Harvey Weinstein scandal is part of a “crisis in extreme masculinity.” Not the way I see it. I think Hollywood is suffering from an excess of feminism and nowhere near enough masculinity.

Just to be clear, the Weinstein phenomenon is not caused by any one thing. Unless I miss my guess, there will always be Harvey Weinsteins. Hollywood in particular is a town full of powerful men and attractive, insecure young women desperate to salve their insecurities by winning the love of millions onscreen. Put powerful men and pretty, insecure, desperate women together and you’ll get abuses. And by the way, this trick works with gay people too. Remember when Corey Feldman spoke out about widespread homosexual predation on young actors? I do. Remember the thorough investigation that followed, resulting in exposure, scandal and arrests? Neither do I.

But powerful men and masculine men are not the same thing. Former Fox News host Laura Sivan recently told in heart-wrenching detail how Weinstein cornered her in a basement and masturbated in front of her. Is that how manly men behave in your book? Pick your masculine icon. John Wayne’s characters? Clint Eastwood’s? Watch me take a shower. Give me a massage and I’ll put you in a movie. Is that how they behave?

Manly men protect women. If a manly man finds out Harvey Weinstein abused his wife or girlfriend, Harvey Weinstein gets his lights punched out. Of all the people involved in this story, the only one I’ve admired at all so far is Brad Pitt. When Pitt found out Weinstein had made advances on his then-girlfriend Gwyneth Paltrow, at least he went and confronted the producer and told him never to do it again. That may not be the last scene of High Noon, but, manhood-wise, I’ll take what I can get. Good for Brad Pitt.

A recent (utterly bogus) study is winning praise at all the left-wing venues. It pretends to show that gender roles are harmful for children, in part because they pressure boys to feel they have to be strong in order to protect girls. Guess what, morons. Boys do have to be strong to protect girls and they should be pressured from an early age to cultivate the courage to do so.

Idiot feminists (a redundancy) always think that if you get rid of “gender norms,” all will be equality. Teach men not to open doors for women. What’s the matter? You think a woman isn’t powerful and independent enough to open a door for herself? But the fact is, if you teach boys not to protect girls, all you’re left with in the end is Harvey Weinstein and the men who are too weak to stand up against him.

Being a man — a real man — is hard. Being a gentleman is hard. Men won’t do it if they don’t have real women — real ladies — to do it for. And wherever ladies stop being ladies and men stop being men, it isn’t Equality World, believe me. It’s Harvey Weinstein all the way down.