Keep your man-child antiheroes: The new crush-worthy guy is the quietly competent, grown-up man

www.salon.com|Paula Young Lee

In the cities, the 21st century birthed the hipster, the metrosexual, the lumbersexual, the ammosexual and other -sexuals, these labels working to create a taxonomy of everyday types in the manner of 19th-century commentators trying to make sense of rapid social change. But even as doofus dads and sad sacks were busily taking selfies and trying mightily to draw attention to themselves, an unlikely new hero has been caught, however unwilling, on camera: the competent white male.

White guys are killing us: Toxic, cowardly masculinity, our unhealable national illness

www.salon.com|Chauncey DeVega

When the New York Times editorial board issued its powerful condemnation of America’s gun culture, they went beyond mere outrage in response to the recent murder sprees in San Bernardino, California, and Colorado Springs, Colorado. The Times went so far as to suggest that “assault rifle”-style weapons should be banned from civilian ownership. As is our national ritual, President Obama also condemned gun violence, and just as he has been forced to do too many times during his tenure, pleaded that Americans must find a way to stop killing each other. The American people do in fact support stronger gun control laws; the NRA, functioning as the lobbying arm for the gun industry, opposes even the most basic common sense gun laws. The NRA wins while the American people die.

Being really, really, ridiculously good looking can hold you back at work

www.salon.com|Erin Coulehan

Researchers at University of London’s School of Management suggest being handsome can be detrimental to a man’s career, seriously. The study found that conventionally handsome men are often overlooked when it comes to acquiring competitive jobs. The researchers found good looking men are considered more competent, but that their aesthetically pleasing physical attributes can be viewed as a threat to coworkers and superiors. Collaborative workplaces often employ good-looking male candidates, and these men are believed to deliver more convincing business pitches than women or less-attractive male colleagues because attractiveness is linked to perceived competency.

If given the choice, I’m sure most dads would choose to be as attentive as mine was, especially in the aftermath of their child’s birth. It’s tough, however, for some men to send the message to their boss that family comes first, especially in a difficult economy where many people feel lucky to have stable work. This prevents some dads from taking full advantage of paternity leave even when it is offered at their place of employment.

OkCupid’s data shows that men receive replies to about 20-50% of their online dating messages, depending on their attractiveness — and I’m going to go out on a limb and say most would like to move that number up to 100%. While sometimes it’s your profile that makes women think twice, I can also attest that your message itself can kill your chances of a response. As someone who has been on the receiving end, here are some mistakes that have made me hit “delete” or, in the worst cases, “block” on my online dating messages.

Masculinity’s death tolls are attributed to its more specific manifestations: alcoholism, workaholism and violence. Even when it does not literally kill, it causes a sort of spiritual death, leaving many men traumatized, dissociated and often unknowingly depressed. (These issues are heightened by race, class, sexuality and other marginalizing factors, but here let’s focus on early childhood and adolescent socialization overall.) To quote poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “tis not in death that men die most.” And for many men, the process begins long before manhood.

Handing a dude a sheet of paper and a pen and telling him to draw a vagina usually turns out to be pretty funny. We know this; remember that time two friends asked a bunch of gay men to sketch the female anatomy so they could make a coffee table book? Now, close your eyes and imagine if, instead of gay men drawing vaginas, you could watch straight men navigate the challenges of illustrating a somewhat-accurate vulva. Then open your eyes and click the video below.

In the mid-1970s three U.S. researchers ran an experiment in a men’s latrine, testing a theory that micturation—peeing—is inhibited by “personal space invasions.” Lurking in a nearby stall, with a periscope hidden in a stack of books (ethical standards were a bit different then), the researchers observed subjects relieving themselves with 1) a stranger close by, 2) a stranger slightly farther away, or 3) no stranger present (the control).

While it’s crucial that we address the issue of street harassment, we need to recognize that it’s bigger than the street by discussing the ways in which performative masculinity creates a culture where behavior like that of Travolta and Biden is normalized. It might feel good to laugh off such demonstrative behavior as vestiges of a fading masculinity, but the problem with mantouching isn’t that it’s hilariously creepy or weird. The problem with mantouching is that it’s so common that some of the women who experience it might not think it’s a big deal. After all, it happens all the time.

Men are ruining the country, according to science. (Just kidding. Mostly.)

A new study on gender and partisan bias found that when men and women were both asked to read an article they were told was written by a person with an opposing political viewpoint (Democratic or Republican), women were more open to the ideas presented even though they were different from their own. Researchers Patrick Miller and Pamela Johnston Conover also found that, even though they engaged less with the editorial, men were more likely to form a strong opinion on it.