A Note to Ben Shapiro, the Village Idiot
Honorary mentions go to Candace Owens and Ted Cruz.
Conservative media has many things to worry about right now. For example, an outgoing president who refuses to concede. But a couple of Twitter users decided to take a break from touting flimsy voter fraud evidence to engage in some very old school culture warmongering. It started with noted far-right commentator Candace Owens, who took umbrage with the December 2020 edition of Vogue depicting musician Harry Styles in a dress. While that itself led to widespread mockery, in came Ben Shapiro saying, in essence, “hold my beer.”
Now, I have to hand it to her, Candace Owens really took her five minutes of fame and milked it like no other. I’m talking tweet after tweet attacking Styles and Vogue, and extremely over-dramatic responses to Styles’ millions of fans attempting to cancel her (rightfully so). I mean, she even took to Instagram to voice her ever-growing concern about masculinity being feminized by “unstable men.” God, woman! Who are you?
My everlasting migraine began on Nov. 14, when Owens quote tweeted Vogue, saying, “There is no society that can survive without strong men. The East knows this. In the west, the steady feminization of our men at the same time that Marxism is being taught to our children is not a coincidence. It is an outright attack. Bring back manly men.” In another tweet, she even went as far as to say, “Terms like ‘toxic masculinity’ were created by toxic females. Real women don’t do fake feminism.”
Ignoring the bewildering conspiracy that Harry Styles in a dress is a prelude to a communist takeover, I think it’s worth noting that men in the East have worn what Western media interprets to be “feminine clothing” since even before the 18th century, and they continue to do so. To this day, male attire in India and Persia includes traditional Kurtas: a long, loose shirt or tunic. In China, men wear the Changshan: a wrapped dress with flared sleeves. In Japan, male attire includes the Yukata: the equivalent to a Kimono. All of these and many other pieces of traditional Eastern clothing are perceived by American media as “feminine”. Therefore, Candace, there actually is a society that can and has been surviving just fine without the ideals of which you traditionally view to be masculine.
Moving on to everyone’s favorite character: Ben Shapiro also has quite a reputation on the bird app. The former Breitbart writer started by having Owen’s back, writing, “Anyone who pretends that it is not a referendum on masculinity for men to don floofy dresses is treating you as a full-on idiot.” He then went on, for a good long while, accusing Styles and Vogue of attempting to “feminize masculinity” and destroy gender and whatnot, over a series of tweets you can read here.
But the response to Shapiro’s latest tirade, as usual, was a lot more direct. That is to say, the right-wing commentator — who, even at 36, still looks like the trust fund baddie in an ’80s prep school comedy — found himself once again having the internet version of his head getting dunked in a toilet bowl.
Many a celebrity came to Styles’ defense: Olivia Wilde called Shapiro and Owens “pathetic,” and Jameela Jamil compared him to the “insecure, toxic, women-hating, homophobic dickheads who decided [what] was manly hundreds of years ago” (which I could not have put better myself).
I find it incredibly hilarious that Ben Shapiro thinks the liberal agenda is to emasculate men for the world to see. Also, I’m not going to lie, it was pretty entertaining watching him try to politicize a British man and expecting anyone on “leftist Twitter” to take him seriously.
My favorite political interaction with Shapiro’s comments has to be from Ted Cruz, who tweeted, “I don’t really care about this particular controversy, but I feel obligated to point out one of the odder factoids of the past few years: on Jeffrey Epstein’s living-room wall, we learned, was an oil painting of Bill Clinton in a dress. I have no idea why.”
Applause, Ted. Your attempt to connect Harry Styles to a pedophile was utterly brilliant. The response to this incredible revelation was overwhelmingly negative. Most were people simply asking the Senator to pay more attention to his home state, which is currently overrun with hospitalizations due to the pandemic instead of, you know, indulging conspiracies about Harry Styles supporting Jeffery Epstein by wearing a ballgown.
Styles is widely celebrated for his actions contributing to the breakdown of stereotypical gender norms, drawing heavy influence from artists such as Prince and David Bowie. He regularly paints his nails, wears heels and jewelry, and appears in public in considerably feminine clothing. In the story with American Vogue, (of which Styles is the first solo non-woman to ever appear on the cover) he is quoted saying, “I find myself looking at women’s clothes, thinking they’re amazing. […] There’s so much joy to be had in playing with clothes. I’ve never thought too much about what it means — it just becomes this extended part of creating something.”
However, this form of gender fluidity has been seen for decades, almost as long as gender roles have existed. The difference between then and now draws from more political and societal engagement, which drives a powerful force behind blending “female” and “male” together. Harry Styles is doing what he wants, shocking the old guard, and getting a few hearts racing in the process. He’s strong, subversive, and sexy. And it’s pretty iconic that him in a dress makes Ben Shapiro clutch his proverbial pearls. For whatever reason, Shapiro and company might not aspire to that kind of masculinity. But they should. As should we all.
Let’s be honest, we all know that Ben Shapiro is just mad he can’t have sex with Harry Styles. But the rest of us graciously accepted that years ago; and Ben, I think it’s time you did too.
