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2/x
Point I liked: For hundreds of years, people have been claiming that "men these days aren't as manly as they used to be." It's clearly a moral panic without grounding, and little more accurate than the standard gripes about "kids these days." (Recall Jackie Gleason's comment, "the past remembers better than it lived.")

Quibble: But then she blows it, and says basically, "This time it's real, though!"

3/x
Quibble: One the main problems she believes men face is that old skills are no longer sufficient or valuable in today's working world. Well of course! People--men and women--have been needing to learn new skills since the industrial revolution. This isn't anti-man; it's just the nature of a technological society.

4/x
Big Quibble: Another of the "problems of men" she mentions is that women are doing well in school and getting good jobs. If you are a man who feels this is a problem for you, then you're not just a crappy man, you're a crappy person. If your success relies on other people's failure, your definition of success sucks.

5/x
Quibble: She notes that while men still dominate society, many lower-class men lack access to the power of these elites. This is true, but has it ever been different? The only difference seems to be that in the past even the "low" men could take comfort in their supposed superiority to women. But if that's a crisis of masculinity, then masculinity (as defined there) is nothing more than a sexist hierarchy.

6/x
Thing I liked: Her discussion of the Jordan Peterson types and their appeal is interesting. She suggests that--in addition to the seething sexism and "it's not your fault" message--their audience really appreciates being clearly told what to do. Their audience wants a clear hierarchy, even if they aren't at the very top.

7/x
Thing I liked: She also points out that most of the modern "how to be a man" stuff from the right is really about sexual anxiety, and frames masculinity as nothing more than "the opposite of whatever femininity is."

8/x
Thing that made me think: I'm not sure we wouldn't all be better off focusing on being good people rather than being good men and women, but clearly there's an audience desperate to know how to "be a man," and as she points out, the only people stepping in to fill that void are the worst imaginable misogynists of the right. I think I may start working on something like: "How to Be a Man, But Also Not an Asshole." (not that I'm all that well qualified on either count, but oh well)

@rhetormorrison Glancing at your 8th comment. I read today's WaPo oped by Christine Emba about lost men. My takeaway is that we're creating new cultural norms. We don't have strong expectations for traditional roles. So we're in the anarchy / creative stage of culture creation.

So I agree with you. Be a good person. Even more so, be empowered to choose the best of traditional role models and follow them. Don't follow your lost peers.

@Stegosaurus Good point. I think a lot of the old cultural norms of masculinity were basically just sexism dressed up as nobility, so I'm glad to see that go. But as you point out, this does mean we're in a moment of flux.