When Harry Styles agreed to model a series of dresses and skirts for a Vogue cover shoot, he knew it would stir up controversy. He probably didn’t think he was going to be blamed for undermining civilization itself. But that’s what some right-wing opinion-havers would have you believe.
“Blexit” leader Candace Owens started the brouhaha with this melodramatic tweet:
She followed up with a swipe at feminism:
It wasn’t long until fast-talking dunderhead Ben Shapiro decided to chime in.
But Ben wasn’t content to simply share a couple of tweets on the issue, and so he took it to his podcast today, delivering a nearly half-hour rant on the subject, interrupted only by Shapiro reading out ads for luxury bedsheets and his publication the Daily Wire.
He began by not-so-subtly suggesting that men wearing dresses might deserve a punch in the mouth, and followed with a rambling, repetitive rant taking on what he, likes Owens, sees as a dire threat to western civilization: men in “floofy” frocks.
This excerpt will give you some of the flavor of the thing:
But Shapiro wasn’t just annoyed; he presented himself as a noble guardian of civilization fighting off the cross-dressing barbarians.
“This stuff matters,” he declared.
It matters. Because these are fundamental ideas for the preservation of civilization. Boys and girls are different. Boys and girls are different. And it’s important to inculcate in your children that boys and girls are different. And any parents who fail to inculcate in a boy that manliness is a good thing, and that responsible manliness helped build civilizations … any parent that does not teach their girls that femininity, meaning the protection of hearth and home in a different way than masculinity, is a good thing. Any parent that doesn’t teach their girls that is not doing their kid any favors. They’re undermining the civilizational compact that men and women [have], based on biology and in every human culture.
Dude, it’s just a man in a dress. Cis male musicians have been donning dresses for decades — from David Bowie to Kurt Cobain — and somehow civilization hasn’t come tumbling down.
But Shapiro thinks this is a Very Important Topic.
We shouldn’t be shy about discussing these issuesl the left certainly isn’t shy about discussing these issues. They’ll put these [ideas] in public schools, they’ll tell your kindergartener that real men wear dresses. And then you’ll be explaining to a five year old that real men don’t wear dresses. And I don’t feel that’s an acceptable ramification of our cultural discussion.
I really don’t think there’s much discussion of cross-dressing in kindergarten.
Shapiro throws in a weird racial aside:
Harry Styles is a free man, living in a western country, in a west by the way that is defended by white masculine men, as a general rule.
Shapiro insists he has nothing against Harry Styles. It’s just that when Styles puts on a dress he is TEARING APART THE VERY FABRIC OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION
I’m not saying don’t pick up his CDs; I’m not saying don’t listen to his music; I’m not saying don’t watch the movies he’s in. All I’m saying is that when you put out an argument that men ought to act like women and that this is a good thing you’re doing something that tears at the fabric of not only civilization but family and the fabric of childrearing and everybody with half a brain knows this.
Again, Ben, it’s just a man in a dress, a playful tweak of conventional notions of masculinity. How fragile is masculinity — how fragile is civilization itself — if it can be brought to its knees by a handful of pictures of a man in a dress?
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@Lainy
I don’t know either, so for now it’s probably best if we don’t get involved with his parents.
@Naglfar
When you say adress do you mean like his home adress? like this child put up his adress to where he lives on the internet?
@Lainy
It’s on the contact page of his blog. There’s also an email and a phone number. I can’t be certain if the address is his, but I would assume so. He really shouldn’t have done that.
@Naglfar
Jesus this kid is stupid, are they not teaching internet safety to kids anymore? its been well over 10 years since i was in elementary school.
@Lainy
It’s probably part of how he thinks he’s an adult now and doesn’t feel like listening to safety recommendations.
@Naglfar
And the kid’s voice has probably just started to break and he thinks that one chest hair makes him a “man” jesus, the poison of the youth.
@Naglfar
Oh wow, I missed that. Good catch.
@Eric
People who are worried. You’ve gotten yourself into some dangerous stuff.
I didn’t accuse anyone of anything. I said it was a possibility.
Biphobia much?
You are a young boy getting yourself involved with older men online. The Internet can be a dangerous place. You do not know what you are doing.
It’s good that you don’t have your address up anymore, but no one threatened to dox you.
@ eric
Child, shut up and take your adress off the page before someone hurts you. Jesus Christ on a cross, kid. You are a level of cringe I’m glad i wasn’t. Good luck with puberty, hopefully you come out of it unharmed from the dumbass things you are already doing.
That’s not how doxing works. When you put your real name and real address up on a website, you’ve doxed yourself.
@eric
Also i wouldn’t dox, I’m concerned of someone hurting. Not like someone doxing you. someone coming to your home and hurting you. You are a child that is starting to bloom into adulthood. I’m glad you know your gay, but your also being a bully. You can be gay and be a bully. I haven’t watched any of your shit kid because I don’t care. I’m also not straight, surprises surprises.
@Policy of madness
By doxing I think this kid really means that Naglfar expressed concerned and asked if she should tell this boy mommy and daddy what he’s been up to and that scared him because his actions and bullying might actually get him in trouble with his authority figures.
@Lainy
Yes, I think that’s what he meant. I didn’t do that, but even if I did it wouldn’t be doxxing. It’s probably good that he password protected the page, but really he shouldn’t have put that up in the first place.
I haven’t watched any of the videos either because they’re all really long and I have better things to do with my time.
@nagflar
Yeah cause even if the kid parents don’t care about all the women hating, they probably care about him being groomed by adult men and then also care that their child stupidly put up their home address on the internet and there for putting everyone in that house endanger because he thinks he’s all grown up and doesn’t understand how consequences for his actions work yet.
@Lainy
You’re probably correct, but that’s not what doxing is.
@Policy of madness
He’s a 12 year boy, he doesn’t understand how anything works in the real world yet.
@Lainy
Yes, but that’s more reason to correct his incorrect use of terms, not less.
I’ve sent David an email. I’m just really uncomfortable with allowing a child to post his info so publicly where so many people are going to see it.
@PoM and Lainy – It’s the same phenomenon where calling attention to racism is somehow itself racism, according to the person being called out.
So you’re a man when it comes to blogging about how the world works and how it’s all the fault of women, but a child as soon as someone calls you on it? Pick a lane.
@Buttercup Q. Skullpants
He can’t pick a lane, he’s to young to drive lol.
@Eric
In that case, how can you be a Man Going Their Own Way? Wouldn’t that require being a man?
One joke. Every time.
@Eric
Idk where you’re getting your ideas, but I’ve never met a flat earther who was a feminist. Is this a 4chan meme or something?
You’re not doing much winning lately.
@Eric
Sorry, but to be a man you must be an adult. No one is born an adult.
Evidently for you that path is “random blog comment sections”
Interesting that you’re the self-proclaimed “Leader of The Peoples Republic of Misogynea,” then. Do you know what “misogyny” means?
Oh no, I’m terrified that another child will write words on the Internet! Aaah!
Talk more about your path and less about women, and I might believe that. No MGTOW forum ever focuses on the alleged path. The laser focus is always on women, and how they suck.
@Eric
Yes, and you’re not very good at it.