Originally published at: GQP Rep. Madison Cawthorn asks mothers to please let their sons grow up to be monsters | Boing Boing
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It’s hard to take right-wingers like Cawthorn and Shapiro seriously when they talk about America’s need for more “manly”* men in those whingey nasal voices.
[* read: toxic masculinity]
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Wow, I didn’t think that title was literal. Not surprised he encourages the worst in people; surprised he’s somewhat self-aware about that.
BTW a brief wiki note on some testosterone history since Cawthorn seems to think its been measured throughout history. Maybe he should try it:
Research on the action of testosterone received a brief boost in 1889, when the Harvard professor Charles-Édouard Brown-Séquard (1817–1894), then in Paris, self-injected subcutaneously a “rejuvenating elixir” consisting of an extract of dog and guinea pig testicle.
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Pretty sure he means that in the Jordan Peterson sense.
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Raving hysterically like that? He probably forgot to take his testosterone injection.
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One could argue that “free range kids” are monsters, but I’d say they are a different kind of monster from what he wants-- he literally praised the people in the crowd for being “vicious.”
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I’m not convinced. Neither cawthorn nor his hooting audience seem like the types that read – or the types to communicate in literary references. You know, what with Rep. Cawthorn thinking “demasculate” is a word, and buying into bro-science nonsense about testosterone levels.
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These projectionists always keep the focus sharp to highlight every detail.
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Wow. Just straight-up saying it out loud. "We are - we should aspire to be - vicious monsters."
Yeah, it’s something. Not just the self-awareness, but the willingness to state it, baldly. I’m wondering if the next step is admitting they’re fascists, too.
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Testosterone levels are dropping, but I’m guessing it has more to do of the monstrosity of people polluting the world. Men's testosterone levels declined in last 20 years | Reuters
It’s reduced in men with obesity, in general, Lowered testosterone in male obesity: mechanisms, morbidity and management but it was low even taking that into account.
There doesn’t seem to be a monstrosity deficit, but there are fewer manual laborers, some pollutants are increased and there’s been significant changes in diet.
ETA: Too little or too much testosterone can be problematic for health, so it’s definitely not a more is good situation.
ETA: Also, I think data from that study goes back, weakly to 1915, and wasn’t standardized until 1980, so it may be “all of history of measuring testosterone in blood”, but since that’s wobbly measurements before 1980, it’s hard to draw any conclusions. https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5jz483/eli5_why_have_male_testosterone_levels_been/
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“buy them cars and have them smash trees”
That’s his impression of masculinity I guess?
Hmm…Why not double up and have them smash their cars into trees at high speed!?
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Republicans are not fans of anarchist style unschooling. The children might learn to think for themselves.
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One of my favorite things about Parks and Recreation was that Ron Swanson, the walking embodiment of every rugged testosterone-infused “manly-man” stereotype in the book, still managed to be a fundamentally decent human being who didn’t let stupid notions of masculinity stop him from living his best life:
- He paid for his friend Andy to take a college class in feminist studies
- He regularly taught the women in his life how to do stuff like hunting, woodworking, and home repair
- He raised his wife’s young girls as his own, even allowing them to give him makeovers
- He was the best man at his gay hairdresser’s wedding
I guess the point is that if you think you need to be a misogynist asshole to be a strong, confident man then you are neither strong nor confident.
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I assume “demasculate” is the GOP know-nothing version of “emasculate”?
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It’s like a race to see who’s more unfit for public office with these qnuts. Disgusting asswipes all.
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The children must be indoctrinated to be “free thinkers” who believe exactly what they are told, but also that it was their idea and of their own free will and not all the indoctrination and social pressure and ambient trauma infliction.
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I can only presume Cawthorn thinks real men are the ones who are accused of sexual harassment at college, lie about their athletic prowess, lie about being admitted to military college, fail to understand the Bible, incite sedition and refer to Hitler as ‘the Fuhrer’.
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There’s no more quiet parts, just the screaming them out loud without the self-awareness of the nazis in the “are we the baddies?” skit.
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Meaning he wants to make love to lobsters?
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This is one of the things I really hate about people like this - they manage to infect real data points, some of which might actually matter, with the sense of them being nonsensical and reprehensible. Like, what he’s actually saying here is obviously ridiculous and awful to anyone sane, but testosterone levels in men really have been slowly declining for decades, as have anogenital distances in newborn males. This may or may not have significant effects on health, fertility, psychology, or anything else, and almost certainly has nothing to do with cultural trends and everything to do with the chemical environment we live and develop in, but either way, mention these things and you most likely get lumped in with Alex Jones ranting about gay frogs. I wish I could live in a society where observations like this get discussed calmly alongside things like the population becoming more overweight and obese since the 1980s, and average body temperature decreasing since the 1930s.
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