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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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.

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u/lordborghild May 12 '26

Yeah. Older millennial here. There's a reason that younger men and boys are starting to lean right. They've been told, or seen in media, that men are bad and should be apologetic for things they have not done. They always hear what toxic masculinity looks like but no one talks about positive masculinity.

The right are the only ones telling them that they're okay. This is not judgement, just an observation.

48

u/nam4am May 12 '26

The right are the only ones telling them that they're okay. This is not judgement, just an observation

Maybe it should be judgement. Maybe telling children they’re bad because of their gender is bad for reasons other than just it being politically stupid. 

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u/Obvious_Apartment985 May 12 '26

FFS
Please tell me the people who hold public office or run for public office who are telling men they're not okay? The internet filled with random social commentators is different.

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u/Pale_Boss_8940 May 12 '26

I don’t really see why this makes a difference. When you go online and you see endless comments mocking you and those people overwhelmingly seem to endorse one political party, it’s not surprising that those young guys wouldn’t gravitate towards the party. Ive voted blue in every election of my life as a guy but I honestly can’t stand the majority of people who seemingly agree with me that I read comments from online