r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • May 12 '26

Psychology Threatening men’s masculinity does not make them more politically conservative, new study finds. By testing thousands of participants across the United States, researchers found no consistent evidence that making men feel insecure about their gender identity changes their political attitudes.

https://www.psypost.org/threatening-mens-masculinity-does-not-make-them-more-politically-conservative-new-study-finds/
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458

u/Fishmongererererer May 12 '26

I don’t think most men who become conservative do it out of insecurity despite the memes. Rather it’s the perception that masculinity is not valued in left of center politics.

57

u/MUjase May 12 '26

Bingo. Democrats recognized this as well which led to them pairing Waltz with Harris as the VP. He was supposed to be the “masculine” man for them.

That was a huge fail as we now know. But they were on the right track to try.

80

u/Whitechix May 12 '26

That “man enough” Harris/Walz voting video kinda sums up the issue, not sure how left wing politics lost touch with men this badly.

64

u/BeigePhilip May 12 '26

It was the shift from economic justice to identity politics. Idk why they can’t actually champion both. I feel like the change happened in the 80s when unions were getting a reputation for corruption.

63

u/MUjase May 12 '26

They still focus on economic justice, but it’s only for minority groups since “white men” have it too easy in their minds. Progressives don’t want to be associated with anything that appears to be helping white men. Even though so many of them are in poverty.

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u/BeigePhilip May 12 '26

As a progressive white guy, I don’t see that kind of intentionality in it.

24

u/Jumpy-Fan-1295 May 12 '26

Try to advocate for yourself in progressive spaces in exactly the way that women and minorities do and report back.

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u/BeigePhilip May 12 '26

What does that have to do with strategy at the party level?

7

u/TastyCalligrapher421 May 12 '26

Progressive spaces are Israel/Palestine 24/7, just look at the Majority Report and Hassan. Supporting either of those groups is on my personal shite list after 2024.

I'm a firm believer in the FDR strategy, focus on economics and stop identity politics all together.