I’m the Man; The Hastings Center for Bioethics, July 6, 2026

 Arthur Caplan, The Hastings Center for Bioethics; I’m the Man

"Why should we in bioethics care about what image of masculinity is being promoted in American or other cultures? There are many reasons.

Views of masculinity are closely tied to male health. Doctors are concerned about how the online emphasis on looksmaxxing is harming teenage boys’ mental health. When men are told they ought to be stoic, bottle up their feelings, and tough out stress and anxiety, they wind up sicker and miss out on support they would benefit from. When a politician is chided as unmanly and unfit for leadership for crying in public–as has happened to Tim Walz, John Boehner, Chuck Schumer, Adam Kinzinger, and Joe Biden, just to mention a few–it sends a lousy message about emotional health, and about leaders who take appropriate pride in the virtues of empathy and solicitude.

Manliness is defined these days by MAGA and MAHA as being swole and jacked. Role models come from phony sports like pro wrestling, vicious ones like UFC and professional slapping, and the recent steroid-infused enhanced games. When the President and his staff use AI to turn him into a muscle-bound fantasy in social media posts or promote testosterone replacement therapy for men young and old, then the culture begins to believe that only a muscular build, however constructed, is desirable as manly. The implications for inclusivity and authenticity are significant.

Extolling dominance, assertiveness, power, promiscuity, and violence may lead to abuse, sexual misconduct, repression, exclusion, and thwarting the opportunities of others. The toxic masculinity on display too often in American politics, business, social media, and sports means that men, and especially young men, see extreme caricatures of huge, domineering tough guys and a lack of positive, constructive uninflated male role models. 

Toxic masculinity distorts the ethos of healthcare and the ethical perspective that men bring to policy formation. Toxic masculinity is fertile soil for the increasing turn among MAHA and tech bros toward an unapologetic eugenics.

The depiction of men and what the current culture deems manly will be with us long after Andrew Tate, David Goggins, and looksmaxxers become passe. Articulating an alternative view and promoting it as manly (and very cool) is an important bioethical project.

Bioethics must remain alert and identify toxic masculinity when it rears its ugly head in prescriptions about how boys and men ought to behave. And bioethics must continue to explore, articulate, and disseminate views of masculinity in healthcare and health policy that are inclusive, are scientifically grounded, foster possibilities, and are ethically just."

What a presidential president would have said about Charlottesville; Washington Post, August 12, 2017

Editorial Board; Washington Post; What a presidential president would have said about Charlottesville

"HERE IS what President Trump said Saturday about the violence in Charlottesville sparked by a demonstration of white nationalists, neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan members:

We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides. On many sides.

Here is what a presidential president would have said:

“The violence Friday and Saturday in Charlottesville, Va., is a tragedy and an unacceptable, impermissible assault on American values. It is an assault, specifically, on the ideals we cherish most in a pluralistic democracy — tolerance, peaceable coexistence and diversity.

“The events were triggered by individuals who embrace and extol hatred. Racists, neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klan members and their sympathizers — these are the extremists who fomented the violence in Charlottesville, and whose views all Americans must condemn and reject.

“To wink at racism or to condone it through silence, or false moral equivalence, or elision, as some do, is no better and no more acceptable than racism itself. Just as we can justly identify radical Islamic terrorism when we see it, and call it out, so can we all see the racists in Charlottesville, and understand that they are anathema in our society, which depends so centrally on mutual respect.

“Under whatever labels and using whatever code words — ‘heritage,’ ‘tradition,’ ‘nationalism’ — the idea that whites or any other ethnic, national or racial group is superior to another is not acceptable. Americans should not excuse, and I as president will not countenance, fringe elements in our society who peddle such anti-American ideas. While they have deep and noxious roots in our history, they must not be given any quarter nor any license today.

“Nor will we accept acts of domestic terrorism perpetrated by such elements. If, as appears to be the case, the vehicle that plowed into the counterprotesters on Saturday in Charlottesville did so intentionally, the driver should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. The American system of justice must and will treat a terrorist who is Christian or Buddhist or Hindu or anything else just as it treats a terrorist who is Muslim — just as it treated those who perpetrated the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013.

“We may all have pressing and legitimate questions about how the violence in Charlottesville unfolded — and whether it could have been prevented. There will be time in coming days to delve further into those matters, and demand answers. In the meantime, I stand ready to provide any and all resources from the federal government to ensure there will be no recurrence of such violence in Virginia or elsewhere. Let us keep the victims of this terrible tragedy in our thoughts and prayers, and keep faith that the values enshrined in our Constitution and laws will prevail against those who would desecrate our democracy.”"

Parents are told – ‘Kill your gay children or we’ll do it for you’: Terrifying threats made by Chechen police are revealed by victims of country’s ‘concentration camps’ for homosexuals; Daily Mail, May 3, 2017

Dave Burke, Daily Mail; 

Parents are told – ‘Kill your gay children or we’ll do it for you’: Terrifying threats made by Chechen police are revealed by victims of country’s ‘concentration camps’ for homosexuals

"Reports from the Chechen republic claim that homosexuals are being rounded up and killed on the orders of leader Ramzan Kadyrov.

And last week the British Parliament heard Kadyrov intends to eliminate the gay community by the end of this month.

Horrifying testimony from survivors from Chechen concentration camps say victims are being tortured and their family summoned to kill them.

A survivor told France24: 'They tell the parents to kill their child. They say, "Either you do it, or we will". They call it "cleaning your honour with blood".

'They tortured a man for two weeks [then] they summoned his parents and brothers who all came.

'The authorities said to them: "Your son is a homosexual – sort it out or we'll do it ourselves.""

The Guardian view on Jo Cox: an attack on humanity, idealism and democracy; Guardian, 6/16/16

Guardian; The Guardian view on Jo Cox: an attack on humanity, idealism and democracy:

"The slide from civilisation to barbarism is shorter than we might like to imagine. Every violent crime taints the ideal of an orderly society, but when that crime is committed against the people who are peacefully selected to write the rules, then the affront is that much more profound.

The killing, by stabbing and repeated shooting in the street, of Jo Cox is, in the first instance, an exceptionally heinous villainy. She was the mother of two very young children, who will now have to grow up without her. It is also, however, in a very real sense, an attack on democracy. Violence against MPs in Britain is mercifully rare. Only three have been killed in recent history: Airey Neave, Tony Berry and Ian Gow, all of them at the hands of the Irish republicans. Two others, Nigel Jones and Stephen Timms, have been grievously wounded, the latter by a woman citing jihadi inspiration and rage about the Iraq war. Whatever the cause, an attack on a parliamentarian is always an attack on parliament as well, which was as clear in Thursday’s case as any before...

Jo Cox, however, was not just any MP doing her duty. She was also an MP who was driven by an ideal. The former charity worker explained what that ideal was as eloquently as anyone could in her maiden speech last year. “Our communities have been deeply enhanced by immigration,” she insisted, “be it of Irish Catholics across the constituency or of Muslims from Gujarat in India or from Pakistan, principally from Kashmir. While we celebrate our diversity, what surprises me time and time again as I travel around the constituency is that we are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us.”

What nobler vision can there be than that of a society where people can be comfortable in their difference? And what more fundamental tenet of decency is there than to put first and to cherish all that makes us human, as opposed to what divides one group from another? These are ideals that are often maligned when they are described as multiculturalism, but they are precious nonetheless. They are the ideals which led Ms Cox to campaign tirelessly for the brutalised and displaced people of Syria, and – the most painful thought – ideals for which she may now have died."

The narrative falls apart: Evidence that Omar Mateen was in the closet undermines GOP framing of the Orlando shooting; Salon, 6/14/16

Amanda Marcotte, Salon; The narrative falls apart: Evidence that Omar Mateen was in the closet undermines GOP framing of the Orlando shooting:

"With the caveats that it’s important to wait for more information, etc., it’s starting to look like this guy had serious personal issues and only latched onto the idea of ISIS because it’s in the news a lot and adds drama and impact to his actions.

Which isn’t to say that religion doesn’t play a role in all this. If Mateen was closeted and acting out in large part because of self-loathing and repression, then it’s more than safe to note that his religious beliefs were contributing to that. (Mateen’s father continues to issue religiously motivated anti-gay sentiments in public.) Many variations of Islam teach anti-gay views, just like many variations of Christianity; it’s foolish to deny otherwise.

But that, of course, is just the point. If the issue here is religiously motivated homophobia, then that’s a problem that is far from unique to Islam. It suggests the problem is not whether you read the Koran or the Bible, but whether or not you use religion as an excuse to wallow in bigotry. Which, in turn, implicates the Republican party that has spent decades stoking and exploiting Christian homophobia. You can pretend that Islam is a unique problem if the issue is violence done in the name of ISIS and their apocalyptic fantasies. Islam simply isn’t the only religion that teaches anti-gay views. There’s not a lot of wiggle room here."

Tony Norman: Anti-gay bullies trend the wrong way; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 4/24/15

Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Anti-gay bullies trend the wrong way:

"In a public statement, the McGuffey School District promised to investigate all allegations of violence, bullying and intimidation. “We will follow our Student Code of Conduct, and file legal citations, as warranted,” the statement read. “We resolve to ensure that all children can grow and learn in a safe, supportive environment free from discrimination.”

Meanwhile, it would be difficult not to recognize that an enormously teachable moment has arrived at McGuffey High School. Teachers who may have been reluctant to deal with questions of bias in the past are now in a unique position to lead their students into a constructive conversation.

A week after the anti-gay protest, things are considerably quieter in Claysville. If they’re lucky, the boys in the flannel shirts are learning that color-coordinated bigotry is scarcely an improvement on the white sheets of another group of losers who shall remain nameless."