Texas Democrat and U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico fired back at his opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Friday after the two Republicans echoed MAGA insults about his masculinity.
“I’ve said before, and I will keep saying that real men serve others; weak men serve themselves,” Talarico told MS NOW’s “The Briefing” host Jen Psaki. “And so I welcome this debate about what it means to be a man, and I don’t think Ken Paxton or Ted Cruz are in a position to tell anybody what a real man is.”
I disagree. As a feminist there’s nothing wrong with calling some men weak or strong, just as there’s nothing wrong with calling some women weak or strong. Fascism and authoritarianism are ideologies of the weak. Weak women hide behind men demanding they make decisions for them rather than being strong and accepting the burdens of freedom. Weak men hide behind authoritarian leaders and strive to make women weak so that they can control us. Toxic masculinity is the domain of weak men insecure in their weaknesses trying to make up for absence of inner strength with machismo.
Strong men want women to be strong so we can all stand together as free equals. They don’t fear the choices we might make or the choices they might make, because they’re strong enough to endure unpleasantness, rejection, insecurity, etc.