A Social Environment Hostile Towards Men

The House is having a hearing on white supremacy and the Republicans invited Candace Owens who used her time to say it isn't actually an issue, that it wouldn't even rank in her top 100 issues and that the real issue is black-on-black crime & lack of masculinity in men. pic.twitter.com/kl2flYl7bK

— jordan (@JordanUhl) September 20, 2019

According to Candance Owens, we currently live in "a social environment that is hostile towards men". Owens says this environment "does not inspire masculinity or being a man". Owens, an American conservative political commentator, made this claim at a House hearing focusing on the issue of white supremacy in the United States. Owens used her speaking time to claim that Black America is not concerned with white supremacy. When explaining what Black America is concerned with, one of her responses was the current "social environment that is hostile towards men".

As a white woman, I acknowledge that I do not speak for the black community in America, but as a member of our current "social environment", I am shocked by Owens's words. I would respond to Owens by countering her claim: our current social environment is not hostile towards men who conform to gender norms and portray hegemonic masculinity, but it is hostile towards the men who do not. A man wearing cargo shorts and a polo shirt will most likely not face hostile reactions when walking around their town, but a man wearing makeup or a dress most likely will. A promiscuous man who brags about their sexual conquests will receive praise from their male friends, but a man who comes out to his male friends as gay may face backlash and ostracism. A man in a high-level corporate position will be considered successful, but a man who pursues a career as an elementary school teacher will be perceived as "less than". Our social environment does inspire the enforcement of gender norms and hegemonic masculinity. These norms and masculinities are enforced through advertising, film, television, and music. The men who will consequently feel abnormal and face hostility are those who do not conform.

To say that a lack of masculinity is one of the top concerns of the black community is to dismiss the issues that are affecting black families, and many nonblack families, across the country: police brutality, poverty, lack of access to healthcare, unaffordable education. To say this is to also ignore the boys and men who feel as though something is wrong with them because they do not match up to what hegemonic masculinity says they should. Our social environment is hostile towards those men.