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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@Eric
Let this be a lesson.
I never threatened to send letters to your parents. But if the idea of your parents finding out what you’re up to on the internet makes you feel anxious, maybe have a little think about why that would be. Would they be disappointed in you? Would they maybe revoke your internet access? How does a 12-year-old “go his own way” anyway?
@Eric
We aren’t trying to harm you. We’re trying to scare you straight. We’re the nicest mean people you’ll ever meet, and if you’re willing to listen, we can actually give good advice. You have a lot more to worry about from hackers, grifters, and other assorted creepy-crawlies finding your personal info (many of whom hang out in 4chan and other dimly-lit manosphere sites).
I’m still stuck on the ownership of assets thing from a couple of pages back. What assets does a 12 year old boy have? That aren’t things his parents gave him.
@Eric
I’m pretty sure wishing harm on others is a comments policy violation.
MGTOWs don’t care about your safety. You really don’t know what you’re getting yourself into. They see you as recruitment fodder, and they’re brainwashing you.
@eric
I sent a letter and a message to eric mom, We’re having a call time to talk about why her son behavior is making me concerned for his safety.
LOL.
@Lainy
I hope the call goes well. This sort of behavior needs to be nipped in the bud before it gets worse.
MGTOWs don’t care about your mental health. It’s a crab bucket of unhealthy, cultish delusions. I’ve literally never encountered a happy MGTOW.
If you’re feeling anxiety, it’s because you’re realizing your own actions have put you in deep doo-doo (like every 12 year old who suddenly realizes the internet isn’t just used by themselves and their friends). All we’re doing is pointing out what could happen.
Truly spoken by someone who has never been bullied.
I know that if you think I’m bullying you, you don’t actually know what bullying is.
@Tovius
I do too. I remember being that age and the bus driver calling my mom to tell her I had said something really horrible to one of the students in my class. That memory is very clear to me as she sat down to talk to me about it and how anxious and shameful I was. It helped change me a lot and made me cope with my anger in other ways. That even though that student had said some horrible things to me, I shouldn’t have brought his disability into it and been cruel. 12 year old’s are allowed to be wrong and do bad things but they have to face consequences for their actions and be corrected. He doesn’t want to listen to anyone here and he is putting himself in danger, so my hands are tied. I need to do something and not let this child continue to put his life in danger. If he get a punishment and a lecture and lose his internet access except for school, so be it. Maybe even therapy.
@eric
This is for your own good. It may not feel like it right now, But one day you will probably thank me for this. If you were my son, I would want someone to do the same.
@eric
I just want you to be safe and if that means you lose internet access and get grounded so be it. You’ll live. It’s part of life.
This is a developmental bump–smart kids reach the point where they’re quite clever but have absolutely no wisdom. Also, suburban kids have a lot of everything but street smarts. They’re Persian cats who think they’re feral.
kid is really dramatic about loosing access to his phone for a month.
Eric
Why did you give people access to what school you went to and your phone number? I mean kid, this is really irresponsible
@Eric
So I see you’ve taken a world history class. Getting called out for your behavior is not the same as conquering an empire. You’d do well to have a sense of perspective.
Also, do you know that empires rise and fall? Constantinople isn’t even called that anymore.
@eric
In an hour when I sit down to talk with your mom, if she decides to take away your phone till your 16 or something, that’s a good thing. It seems like you need it. If you’re wanting me to feel bad, I don’t. You did this to yourself. Just be happy I’m a concerned adult wanting to keep you safe and not a pedophile that wants to sell you online to other men.
Yeah, isn’t the usual argument that women are the dramatic ones? Ya know, I think that time I got detention for being late to art class three times was exactly like when the Romans built Hadrian’s Wall to keep the crazy Scots away.
@Naglfar
I thought “sexbots”, but then I recalled his age. So, more likely it involves a taped-up cardboard sign saying “NO GURLZ ALOWD”.
@Eric Hughes Robillard
More like @igormless …
@LindsayIrene:
And now I picture this ball of white fluff getting all hissy and growly at grown humans, then going off into a corner to sulk.
@Eric This isn’t one country invading another, a schoolyard bully extorting lunch money, or MGTOW proposing to take away women’s rights. This is an intervention. You are endangering yourself AND your family with your lack of understanding about cyber-safety, appropriate boundaries, recruitment, and online radicalization. If you’re already like this at age 12, by age 18 you might well be another Elliot Rodgers. Stop going down this path. It doesn’t lead anyplace good.
Eric
Why are you making random historical allusions? Do you think it makes you seem smart? When I was your age, I would do a like thing. Now that I’m about twice that age, I know it’s just quaint.
Your migtow “friends” are not going to help you. As long as we’re referencing historical events, bear in mind the fate of Ernst Röhm.
@ Surplus
The supermarket was out of key lime cheesecake yesterday. It was exactly like the siege of Leningrad.