“Hawley typically cites Big Tech, Hollywood and academia as the unholy trinity of elites that has laid masculinity to waste. He likes to quote the titles of old feminist essays from obscure journals to imply that all college professors and all Democratic politicians hate men. But even as he blames this ruling-class syndicate for depriving men of their ancient reason for being, his own fears sync with ruling-class fears from time immemorial. Elite men are anxious that their wives, workers and children will gain financial and intellectual independence, take their property and flee. And then the unkindest cut: Someone new — a lowly outsider who has been waiting in the wings — will take their place at the top of the social order.”
well, Hawley and his ilk, are on to something, although not quite what they think. Mass media, and more recently the internet, has brought about the democratization of media, culture, and knowledge, of discourse and interaction, for the masses. No longer controlled by the ruling elites, the masses can use and come to understand and to organize in ways that shift the old power dynamic, and now those in power on the right see the people - and, especially, their means of empowerment - as a threat.
So, it’s not that straight, cis, white men (or even masculinity itself) that are under attack per se, it’s the current power dynamic that progressive movements seek to change. its dominance by straight, cis, white men is, academically speaking, just a coincidence. When you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression.