Summary Of Are Millennials Experiencing A Crisis Of Masculinity

“We buy things we don’t need with money we don’t have to impress people we don’t like.” – Tyler Durden. The standards of masculinity have risen, men are expected to be the high and mighty figure. I would say that men are being judge way more compared to the old days. In this current century, men can express themselves via social media or in person. Aleks Eror author of “Are Millennials Experiencing a Crisis of Masculinity?” talks about men standards and how they are affecting todays society. I believe that Aleks Eror is very effective in his saying that masculinity of men has changed since the mid-90s. In “Are Millennials Experiencing a Crisis of Masculinity?” published on the HighsNobiety website, author Aleks Eror argues that the masculinity
of males is decreasing as the world progresses, leaving behind the old traditions of “manly men”. Eror uses websites such as 4chan and reddit as examples to display how the internet is affecting masculinity, these websites allow their users to express the emotions that are on their chests using subreddits like r/TheRedPill and boards like /adv/. According to Eror, most men fear that they are not manly enough, yet there are people like Lena Dunham that criticize men for “trying to be manly”, Eror states “holier-than-thou Lena Dunham types accuse us of being patriarchal mansplainers whose porn habits are equitable with sex trafficking and moral degeneracy.” Using himself as an example, Eror states that he agrees with the views of feminists although he would not call himself one. “I agree with most feminist positions. I think that the gender income gap is indefensible and that abortion access should be provided by the state.” Eror does give solutions for the lack of masculinity, but there can only be solutions if people recognize that masculinity is a problem. He concludes that masculinity is not the problem, it is the people who are worried with it (old people) and that we are better off not questioning men about their masculinity. Eror states that need to allow men to progress at their own pace and their own terms. Males are on the verge of losing their masculinity.
The HighsNobiety website is an interesting website, the topics posted on it are known as “Hypebeast talk”. Hypebeast is a way of describing a person that only purchases clothing/shoes only because they are popular and cool, it is used as more of an insult than a compliment. The post about masculinity was posted on September 2017, this is important because it is the same month that President Donald Trump decided to end the Deferred Action for Childhood (DACA). The end of DACA has caused an outage, Eror states that President trump has caused a cultural shift. Which is kind of true because the amount of criticism that is shown on the media. Any person that does an “un-American” on social media/ Television gets blasted for it, and can possibly lose their
job. The times have changed since the late 20th century, most mid to late twenties men are focusing on fashion. The intended audience of the article are ages 18+, middle-class men of all races and people that are considered “Hypebeasts”. The website is mostly known for being a streetwear blog and media brand, meaning most of the viewers are going to be the “Hypebeasts” and people that just enjoy looking at new fashion.
Aleks Eror, author of “Are Millennials Experiencing a Crisis of Masculinity?”, is a well-known journalist. He is currently based in Berlin, and his works have been published on The Guardian, Vice, Slate, The Daily Telegraph and many more. Being an expert, he covers topics that are mainstream and directed towards the young audience. Eror has multiple works on the HighsNobiety website, which most them are based around millennials. He brings himself into the argument using himself as an example of how the current issues are affecting him, because he wants to persuade the readers that men are indeed losing their masculinity. The article in all is very easy to read, conversational tone, and relatable to the guy reader.
The flow of the article as a whole was good, Erors choice of words are easily understandable, he uses a ton of hyperlinks, but they do not take away from what he is trying to say. There are images in between every couple of paragraphs that show the different styles of men in each picture. He makes the paragraph lengths not long so that it does not bore the audience and is less complex to read, but still sticking to the main topic. The repetition of masculinity in the piece does change the feel of it, wanting the readers to know that it is the main
argument. Aleks Eror is successful in his saying that masculinity of men has changed since the mid-90s. Through the website HighsNobiety he could tell his intended audience that there is indeed a fall in masculinity. Although it may be true that males are on the verge of losing their masculinity, todays’ society certainly does not help. More men are becoming feminine, caring more about fashion instead of work. The standards of “old masculinity” are a downfall, the old people are losing their traditions, while the millennials are creating their own traditions. Disregarding the judgement of people is the key solution, because no one is perfect, we cannot exceed everyone’s expectations. “We are born male or female, but not masculine or feminine.” – Sandra Bartky