In Response to Candace Owens

On November 14th, Candace Owens, a Black conservative author, tweets in response to Vogue's recent cover of Harry Styles, in which he dons a beautiful dress.

Source: https://www.vogue.com/article/harry-styles-cover-december-2020

“There is no society that can survive without strong men. The East knows this. In the west, the steady feminization of our men at the same time that Marxism is being taught to our children is not a coincidence. It is an outright attack.

Bring back manly men.”

Bring back manly men.

That doesn’t sit right with me.

To add to that, Candace posted a 9 minute video few days later on her Instagram to further elaborate on her point, emphasizing the same phrase:

Bring back manly men.

So Candace, I would like to respond to your recent statements.

What defines a manly man to you?

From my perspective, your view of a normal, acceptable man is built on the foundation of stereotypical gender norms that have carried over from the past. Is your perfect image of a man a straight, strictly masculine, tough, big guy who flaunts their strength? Because news flash, our ever-changing society refuses to conform to the gender roles that have plagued us for centuries, and it isn’t new. From Prince to Freddie Mercury to even BTS, it is clear how the concept of “masculinity” is no longer a dominating factor in finding one’s identity, which is a great step forward for us! Your object of offense is no more than an image of a man wearing a dress. You, or practically anyone else, have no right to define what is seen as normal, especially as a woman who wears suits, which stereotypically have been seen as a “masculine” type thing. This same line of thinking even traces back to medieval times when men would wear dresses and other articles of clothing that today would be considered feminine, further proving how gender roles are completely and utterly useless.

Secondly, what makes you think that politics has anything to do with this?

Based on your recent IGTV, I noticed that you stated the “feminization” of men and the overall sort of “gender flips” are caused by the liberal agenda. Because according to you, they want to denounce everything that is seen as normal by‘“shov[ing] [it] down [our] throats.”