https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRW1huhDPpg

At 1:38 in the video, the Vice President of the United States tells young men that the culture is attempting to suppress their masculinity and that they should not allow anyone to tell them they are bad people for being male.

I understand that this post may be controversial, given that we are a leftwing sub here. But there is a great deal of importance in this short clip that we need to discuss in an objective and calm way without giving ourselves over to endless political argument. If you have a problem with me celebrating JD Vance's decision to be the first major politician to condemn misandry, blame Democrats for choosing to spread anti-male bigotry and leaving the door wide open for Republicans to call it out. The comments are going to be whatever they will be, but what I am going to talk about here is the significance of this moment for men and boys.

The fact that the Vice President is not only acknowledging men as a demographic worthy of his attention, but also bluntly stating that they've been wrongly demonized by the culture, is an incredible milestone for the men's movement. What JD Vance said is not invalid because of his other beliefs or his politics. It's not invalid if he is only pandering to men to use them as pawns. The fact that his statement was met with applause means that he's speaking about something real others have experienced. Even if you're entirely cynical about the political process, at least you have to admit that men are becoming a demographic worth lying to and exploiting as much as any other group.

Setting aside political and ethical disagreements, ask yourself if we as men have ever heard any Vice President of the United States say aloud that men are not bad people just for being men. If any president or vice president has ever made such an utterance before, please tell me because I would sincerely like to know.

We can, from a critical point of view, say JD Vance missed the mark or was perhaps even implying something toxic when he said that the culture tells young men they're bad because, "you like to tell a joke, because you like to have a beer with your friends, or because you're competitive." I think it's valid to say male competitiveness has been problematized by the culture. I don't understand or care for his other two examples, and I am sure any of us could have come up with better examples of things men get attacked unfairly for. But the fucking Vice President just told young men not to listen to the culture that demonizes them just for being male. That single statement alone is something that has needed said by a major political figure for generations now.

What's going on in my head right now is the realization that if any major political figure had said to me when I was a teenager that I am not a bad person because I am male, I would have felt seen and validated. Back then, I needed somebody to tell me there was nothing wrong with being male, and to hear it from the second-highest office in the land would've benefitted me greatly. Whatever politician would have said that to me when I was a teenager would have easily won my allegiance. I would have registered in their political party and given them money. I would have been willing to overlook their flaws and my disagreements with them just for giving me that one drink of water in the middle the desert when nobody else would. We can't pretend like this isn't going to win even more men, especially young ones, for the Republican party. The pain those men are experiencing from misandry is as real as yours or mine. I will not blame them for wanting to go where they're not hated for who they are, and where they are now being defended. We can laugh at them and tell them the Republicans don't really care about them, and then they'll laugh at us and tell us we're not really getting a public health insurance option.

I have already seen bits of roundtable discussions about JD Vance's comments on CNN. They're busy attempting to gaslight men and delegitimize our issues by speculating that the only thing we're upset about is that we get called out for making rape jokes. Yes, JD Vance set us up to have to deal with that attack when he said we're demonized because we "like to tell a joke." The thing we should do now, rather than aide the media and feminists by joining with them to criticize the Vice President, is to instead point out that JD Vance is fundamentally correct that the culture demonizes men, and then explain how.

We could say to so many on the Right, "Hey, I basically agree with what JD Vance said in this one isolated incident," and use this moment to try to legitimize talking about misandry like it's a real thing. If we have people on both sides discussing misandry, that creates a sense of permission for more to join the conversation. We're all allowed to talk about misandry, it is not a partisan issue. My fear is that too many advocates for men on the left will slam the door on what is the first and only moment that I know of when misandry has been called out by a sitting Vice President, and then we'll return to complaining that nobody important ever talks about misandry.

Regardless of what happens next, whether any of this was sincere on Vance's part, whether or not you agree with me, this is the kind of recognition of misandry that I have waited for and needed to see all my life. What I hope is that this is a sign that it's becoming okay to talk about misandry in the culture, and that there will be some momentum for us to leverage in this. Men and boys have waited too long for somebody in power to acknowledge the hatred and invalidation we've faced to simply let this moment go by because the truth came from somebody we have serious disagreements with on other topics.