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Can men help resolve their own toxic masculinity and mental health crises by wearing nail polish? This was the question posed about a recent pilot program which took “a small yet bold step” to solve men’s issues through gender nonconformity.
By “men’s issues,” the entrepreneurs behind this effeminizing program aren’t referring to the deeply serious issues real men actually face, such as the plague of suicide, or the injustices of cruel family courts, or the fatherless-homes-to-prison pipeline. They’re referring to the neo-Marxist take on men’s issues – namely, that Western masculinity itself, not some “toxic” version of it, is the problem. In this perspective, traditional masculinity is a patriarchal social construct that brutalizes not only women but also boys and men, who purportedly suffer inside an emotional pressure cooker of male stereotypes – and if we jettison this archaic tool of oppression, we all will be liberated.
(The masculinity of non-Western cultures, by the way, is never deemed “toxic” by the multiculturalist Left, because taking down Western civilization is the ultimate aim; hence, the systemic misogyny and rape culture of Islamic sharia, for example, are off-limits to criticism.)
The assumption is that if boys and men are just given permission to express their truest selves, they will rip off that repressive mask of masculinity and be fully human – i.e., indistinguishable from girls and women.
This movement led by gender ideologues to break down norms of Western manliness is never about just filing down the sharp edges of a so-called “toxic masculinity”; it is always about freeing men from the constraints of traditional male roles, and urging men to act instead like stereotypical women: vulnerable and emotionally expressive rather than aggressive and stoically strong; cooperative and nurturing rather than competitive and adventurous.
Conversely, these ideologues have also spent more than a half century trying to eradicate femininity by turning women into the most toxic stereotypes of men: promiscuous, foul-mouthed, ruthlessly ambitious, and so on. And in the last several years, as transgenderism has surged seemingly overnight to the forefront of social, legal, and political controversies, we have witnessed these cultural Marxists throwing women under the bus and pushing for the eradication of the sexes altogether by letting men who claim to be women dominate women’s sports and invade women’s personal spaces.
The aforementioned campaign to get men to wear nail polish was launched after Sam Conniff, an “uncertainty expert” who leads “masterclasses” in how to “Be More Pirate,” agreed to paint his nails for his daughter’s birthday trip to see cross-dressing pop singer Harry Styles. Conniff discovered that his fabulous new look led, he claims, to spontaneous conversations with other men about gender issues ranging from pronouns to violence against women.
Realizing he was onto something, Coniff then teamed up with “inclusivity specialist” Daniele Fiandaca to turn the nail-painting concept into Hard As Nails, an open experiment to “explore and expand the conversation about masculinity and men’s mental health.” They invited male subjects to take part in research sessions from March 15th through the 30th, in hopes of creating an annual event that would spark “a measurable cultural shift.” The subjects were asked to “be brave enough” to have their nails painted, wear them for a few days, record their experiences, and participate in a survey to compare results against a control group.
The resulting research claimed that the experiment led to increased empathy, greater openness, stepping outside the “Man Box,” mental health benefits, and increased confidence. It reported that around 80% of the men involved had “meaningful conversations” about “breaking free from rigid masculine expectations.” A high percentage of participants also experienced an “emotional release” from challenging norms.
What Coniff and Fiandaca see as the encouraging results of this experiment is actually discouraging evidence that too many men have been neutered by over a half-century of the radical feminization of society.
The two men not only claim that the program has potential for “obvious partnerships” with beauty and grooming brands, but also suggest that
organizations in male-dominated industries like construction, engineering and finance could leverage similar concepts to spark internal dialogues about masculinity and workplace culture. A construction company, for example, might launch a ‘Tough As Nails’ day where site workers get manicures while discussing workplace safety and mental health.
Good luck with that. A foreman who organizes an event where his men get their nails painted while discussing gender inequity can expect a workplace mutiny instead. While Coniff and Fiandaca managed to find a “small, self-selecting group” of volunteers for their research, I feel comfortable generalizing that most men don’t want to take a day off to get their nails painted – they just want to get the job done and go home to the wives and children who look up to them as models of virility and stability.
As much as decadent cultural elites like uncertainty experts and inclusivity specialists would like us to believe otherwise, men are not inclined to paint their nails any more than they are inclined to wear lipstick – because it marks them as effeminate, which does not serve them to attract women, bond with other men, or establish social dominance. Again, I feel comfortable generalizing that most women even find a comparatively innocuous, metrosexual obsession with grooming to be a red flag in a man, because frankly, real men (yes, I said real men) have better things to do than prettify themselves – you know, like building and defending families, communities, and civilization.
Here is a basic sociological reality that human beings throughout history instinctively understood, but which we are obligated to re-assert today in our asinine postmodern confusion: women do not want a man who presents as feminine, and men do not respect a leader who presents as feminine, either.
On their website, the Hard as Nails team jokes about giving controversial social media influencer Andrew Tate “a piece of our minds,” but in fact, the feminization of the West is precisely why Tate is a masculinity guru to millions of boys and young men in a backlash against the ravages of feminism. Do Coniff and Fiandaca seriously believe Tate is going to be put in his place by a snippy lecture from men in painted nails? We must not delude ourselves into thinking we can neuter Andrew Tate and his influence, and combat “toxic” examples of masculinity, by urging boys and men to be more feminine. Instead, we must give Tate’s followers high-achieving, emotionally grounded, godly, self-assured (not arrogant), unequivocally masculine role models to admire who will make Tate look like the buffoonish self-parody he is.
What is the end game of gender ideology? Why are the cultural Marxists so heavily invested in deconstructing traditional sex roles, particularly masculinity? Because erasing such distinctions is necessary for the “abolition of the family,” which Karl Marx called for openly. Why abolish the nuclear family? Because the bonds of husband/wife and parents/children are the first, last, and most resistant line of defense against Marx’s collectivist, totalitarian vision – and masculinity is the warrior spirit of the nuclear family. If you emasculate men by disparaging their naturally aggressive, competitive, high-achieving drive as “toxic,” and by denying the hard-wired differences between them and women, then men become neutered, the family unit disintegrates, resistance dissolves, the “community” replaces our families, and the State becomes our parental authority.
Masculinity and femininity are not mere masks that we remove on our way to a genderless utopia – they are hard-wired, millennia-old, biological and social realities that work for men and women. Eradicating the lines between the two does not free us – it only unmoors us from our true natures and leaves us all drifting in a suicidally confused hellscape of a civilization in decline.
Follow Mark Tapson at Culture Warrior
Painte ther Finger Nails like Girls and Women do. SNOWFLAKE!!!!
Jesus would have worn nail polish that’s for sure. He was neutered as can be.
Well, now we know you wear nail polish. you are such a girly man daisy.
He probably prances around in his mom’s underwear while he listens to old “Spice Girls” CDs. If anybody wears nail polish, it’s that guy.
I wonder how deep this type of thinking really goes? I am several decades older than the children today in college and am not sure what percentage of them act this way. How many just walk on by and say nothing?
The college professor types have always been the nerds of society and had few real followers except for the small % of the other genetic problem children. I realize that the game has changed immeasurably in interpersonal relationships with marriage dropping but how often do we see the tops of the waves while missing what is going on with the normals below?
Women are the basis of society and they are most easily influenced so it is obvious that relationships have changed but there have always been societal “old maid” types that are just cared for and ignored. Are all girls that way today?
A modern candy pants fella boy can’t be helped by classes on manhood. I feel a little sorry for the women today that have to pick from this crop of creepy, sensitive ‘guys’ with a phone growing out of the side of his head.
Does this mean that we will now see ads on TV not only for men using facial creams but also wearing nail polish?
Weird as tampons in the mens’ bathrooms.
“A suicidally confused hellscape of a civilization in decline.” Good line.
Another dumb idea in a world full of dumb ideas. Right up there with one person can be “they” and a guy in a dress is a girl.
Not every guy is a bread winner and manly man masculine role model. Try living in Omahell Nebraska and see how much the authorities there give a shit about your contributions to society and hard work ethic. Mrs. fucky-sucky-me love-you-long-time Long Small Alice can have you in jail faster than you can kiss your dick and balls goodbye.
But any guy can wake up after a drunken episode with nail polish on, though. You may not want it but chicks have a cruel sense of humor. They like to play tricks like that. It is pretty funny when you think about it but it never seems funny at the time.
We all like chicks but they can be brutal.
Thank you, Jeff. I agree completely. The focus on “manliness” and “masculinity” is a red herring thrown up by feminists, and the feminist-driven culture, to deflect attention from male issues, and the absence of men’s rights, as you noted.
Tim Walz was supposed to be about “21st-century masculinity”. Did her ever speak up about the underfunding of prostate cancer, or the fact that men account for 80% of suicides? Of course not – Kamala would have dropped him like a hot potato.
Men have rights?
Ha ha. Men do have a few here in “crazy” California, thank God. People from other states think all Californians are crazy and deserve our oppressive state government but the cops here won’t beat a guy’s door down and drag him to jail just because some chick said to.
Our votes don’t matter, though, and our Governor is a total Ponce.
There’s nothing like a manicure and pedicure. Starting going on Dad/Daughter dates to get them when my daughter was 10! However, I draw the line on polish, or even clear. A nice buff of the fingernails is sufficient for us guys who remain rooted in masculinity!
Sounds gay to me.
Obviously he invested in nail p;polish line for men. And thats what this is about.
(i see skin care hair care products for men increasing also).
Yawn!
Stupid. More turn offs from girlie men.
Great article. Wonder how much money passed from the cosmetics companies?
“…urging men to act instead like stereotypical women: vulnerable and emotionally expressive rather than aggressive and stoically strong; cooperative and nurturing rather than competitive and adventurous.
“Stereotypical women.” There have been and are good female impersonators, but a lot of them always, and most of them today, are just caricatures of women, to the point of clownishness. They hate women. It’s understandable seeing that same mentality, that today’s ‘feminist’ female’s idea of masculinity also emulates the worst stereotype of it. Getting normal males or females to go along with it is just too much. When a leftist questions it. And yes, if you tell them you’re muslim, they STFU.
Men CAB obliterate their manliess with nail polish.
….and by wearing pink panties. ~
CAN …. sorry, I am posting drunk.
I do that all the time.
You know that they are lying with madness of this constant Bull Sh*t. Always trying to confuse reality & turn it inside out. Here is the reason for the lies they try to spin.
“”This constant lying is not aimed at making the people believe a lie, but at ensuring that no one believes anything anymore.
A people that can no longer distinguish between truth and lies cannot distinguish between right and wrong.
And such a people, deprived of the power to think and judge, is, without knowing and willing it, completely subjected to the rule
of lies. With such a people, you can do whatever you want.”
– Hannah Arendt
(14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) German historian and philosopher
I would say that it’s insecurity that prevents men from understanding who they are and what they’re about. That sort of self realization is something that should happen by the end of adolescence at the latest. Unfortunately contemporary media, along with dysfunctional peer pressure can undermine one’s individuality. I sometimes wonder if we’re slowly degrading into an unhealthy society on a road to extinction.