A Gentleman’s Guide’ To Fighting For Masculinity In A Culture Of Toxic Feminism

By: Auguste Meyrat

S.K. Baskerville’s ‘A Gentleman’s Guide To Manners, Sex, and Ruling the World,’ nobly addresses the pitfalls of being manly in a world driven by misandry.

The 21st century has not been kind to men in the developed world. By most metrics, they have fallen behind women in school, the workplace, and at home. More and more women are now choosing to opt out of marriage and children altogether because, among other reasons, there are simply too few good men with whom to start a family and make a home. It seems that many men are fine with this, contenting themselves with beer, porn, and video games.

There are various reasons to explain this situation, but at the top of the list is the breakdown of the family and the absence of fathers. With fewer male role models, it logically follows that boys are more likely to grow up into losers who can hardly take care of themselves, let alone a wife and kids.

A related to this reason is the influence of media and technology. Filling the void left by an absent father, the great majority of boys are raised by the screen. Whereas their father would teach his son virtue and play catch with him, it’s now Disney indoctrinating his son with anti-male narratives, and Nintendo keeping him company while he plays indoors by himself.

However, there is an alternative explanation for the decline of men, or at least an explanation that goes one step further: modern feminism, an ideology that has vilified men, disparaged the family, and “liberated” women from the home. It can be argued that feminist ideology in schools, in media, and even in the legal system collectively crippled men and incited women to actively compete against them, if not outright destroy them.

Although picking one of these explanations in itself doesn’t necessarily fix the problem of lackluster men, it does ultimately inform any proposed solution. Most guides for manliness and personal success tend to focus on the first two causes—bad role models and bad habits. However, the recent book of writer S.K. Baskerville, A Gentleman’s Guide To Manners, Sex, and Ruling the World, seeks to address the latter cause of modern feminism, as is indicated in the subtitle: “How to Survive as a Man in the Age of Misandry—and Do So with Grace.”

Baskerville’s other goal in this book is to move the conversation away from adopting the popular poses of suave manliness (“to be like David Niven or Lawrence Olivier, to tie a bow tie, mix a martini, and dance the quadrille”) and discuss “the logic behind the rules [of being a gentleman].” All too often, advice for men tends to dwell on these caricatures of masculinity without explaining the principle behind it. If that’s all the reader wants, he can read any number of manliness manuals that cover “the different options for tying a tie, landing an airplane, and other everyday necessities.”

full story at https://thefederalist.com/2022/01/07/a-gentlemans-guide-to-fighting-for-masculinity-in-a-culture-of-toxic-feminism/