Male Bodies, Longhouse Blues: the Far Right Politics of Masculinity Panic

• In Event: Power, Politics, and Critical Theory

Abstract

The recent far right has been defined by any number of traditional far right commitments (e.g., ultranationalism, racial fears). One feature that has received comparatively less attention is now erupting into the public eye: investment in a certain form of hypermasculinity – along with the insistence that social ills can be tracked back to a “crisis” of masculinity in the nation.

The paper will explore this upsurge in appeals to masculinity as a path to “save” the nation or culture (e.g., Josh Hawley, Tucker Carlson, BAP). At one level, the paper will track how this politics of masculinity draws from the classic tradition of European fascism, that worshiped the strong, male warrior-body. To do so, the paper will engage a variety of sources, ranging from primary texts of fascism to the Frankfurt School to Michel Foucault. By the end, the paper will argue that the recent politics of masculinity reflects the distinct fears that define the contemporary far right – particularly its investment in naturalized myths of gender difference, expressed through its public campaigns of transphobia. In this connection particular attention will be dedicated to the work of Aleksandr Dugin.

Author

• Michael Feola, Lafayette College