WASHINGTON, DC – JUNE 03: Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) questions Former Deputy Attorney General Rod … [+]
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Well, what are politicians blaming video games for now? Not violence, surprisingly, but instead for being a coping mechanism for men who have issues with their…manhood being questioned?
At least that’s what conservative Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) said at the National Conservatism Conference in Orlando, Florida.
His comments try to tie the rise in feminism and men being allegedly told that “they are the problem” into a retreat into porn and video games. Here’s the video, and his full quote below:
“How can we be surprised, that after years of being told they are the problem, that their manhood is the problem, more and more men are withdrawing into the enclave of idleness and pornography and video games. I found a comment by one young to a Wall Street Journal reporter particularly evocative, and particularly heartbreaking. He said ‘I’m sort of waiting for a light to come on, so I can figure out what to do next.’”
Well, I won’t comment on the pornography, which has been a uh, common interest, shall we say, since the dawn of human sexuality. But video games?
Let’s go through a few points:
- During the pandemic, video games were often the only meaningful point of social connection for many groups, men, women and children, given the lockdowns in place.
- Hawley is sticking with a very antiquated idea that video games are a “guy thing,” when the industry is now anywhere from 45-52% women, depending on which studies you reference.
- Video games are cited as “idleness” and a coping mechanism while say, streaming TV shows or movies for an equal amount of hours a day is not cited as some great evil. He did cite them as portraying “toxic masculinity” as a problem, too often, however.
- Somehow, all of this is being tied into feminism and men feeling bad about “their manhood being the problem.” Nothing to do with video games being a popular, enjoyable leisure activity, or a welcome alternative to terrible jobs the men might be forced to take due to the inequality and upward mobility issues within our society. Nope, nothing like that. They’re sad they’re…men, I guess.
It is absolutely true that there are big issues in our society with men from a mental health standpoint, as they deal with loneliness and depression in worryingly large numbers. But attempting to tie this into being the fault of liberal feminism and roping in video games as some sort of poisonous coping mechanism alongside pornography is bizarre, and feels like a politician buzzword playbook out of 1996. Both sides of the aisle have improperly lambasted video games for one thing or another in the past (usually attempting to link them to real world violence), but claiming they’re a misused shield against feminist ideals? That’s a new one, even for me.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to reclaim my manhood by chopping down another 500 trees in New World.
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