How Can Fashion and Social Media Reinvent Masculinity?

For decades, men were told to ‘’man up, be a real man, play tough sports, be the breadwinner, be the alpha by the capitalist-hungry establishment’’. Times are changing.

Men can express emotion, reject the old ideologies of being chauvinistic, replicate the god of Hercules and the classic playboy with the posh martini in his hand.

It is about time, that men’s mental health is finally being recognized in the mainstream, because the long hardships of being bullied, humiliated, and committing suicide has broken up the fairy tale of the ‘nuclear family’ and the neo-liberal poster boy of wearing a suit, being a proud patriot and boot kisser to the military-complex; that leaves hundreds of veterans traumatized seeking help from countries not understanding that Generation Z are not going to play the establishment’s monopoly game anymore.

The fashion and social media are finally waking up the sheeple to what is really going on.

Men have the chance in 2020 and going forward to present a new wave of masculinity that can unite and fix the long wounds that masculinity has gone through; generation after generation, the economy has placed men in a crisis of finding a belonging in the corporate-matrix world and questioning who we are and what we can do to make positive strides in breaking down the walls that kept us from being our true selves.

Over the years, the status quo has been challenged by: Prince, David Bowie, Billy Porter and others, when they ripped up the rulebook for what it means to be a man and they liberated men from the rule of fighting for the motherland or fatherland and devoting themselves into situations that put shelves in danger.

The idea that Harry Styles wearing a dress and suit is going to eliminate the quote on quote ‘strong man’ is ridiculous, because the American conservative commentator Candace Owens said that "There is no society that can survive without strong men."

The trope of strong men has put pressure on men to conform to an idealistic form of masculinity that is unrealistic for the vast majority. Men aged 45-59 are at the highest risk of suicide, 4 out of 5 suicides are men, society needs to address itself and stop disregarding men who don’t fit into the old traditionalist, corporate showman with his nuclear family in the suburbs.

Written by Aaron Ogbuehi