An Exhibition of Conservative Paranoia

Exhibit 87: Measuring Manhood At The MRC

The Media Research Center spent a lot of time fretting that fictional characters weren't sufficiently manly -- and it was triggered by talk of vasectomies.

By Terry Krepel
Posted 12/27/2023

Another way the MRC's masculinity has been threatened is by discussions of threats to penis size. One recent study revealed that evangelical Christianity's emphasis on a certain definition of masculinity makes evangelical Christian males insecure about the size of their private parts. One has to wonder if that kind of insecurity is behind a March 2021 MRC post ranting about a theory that environmental pollution is causing said private parts to be smaller, because Joseph Vazquez is sure irate about it:

We’ve reached a point of media insanity where liberal outlets are trying to convince people that pollution causes their private parts to shrink.

Sky News, PinkNews, VICE, Business Insider and TMZ all pushed stories propagandizing a bonkers theory from a new book by Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Professor of Environmental Medicine & Public Health Shanna Swan. Swan’s theory alleged that “Penises are shrinking and genitals becoming malformed because of pollution,” according to the Sky News characterization. None of the outlets mentioned that Swan was a donor to President Joe Biden, according to Federal Election Commission records. Biden is planning to spend between $3 trillion and $4 trillion to juice the economy again, but “[t]ackling climate change and shifting to clean energy will underpin virtually every part of the package,” The New York Times reported.

Sky News, PinkNews and VICE parroted Swan’s fear-mongering that pollution-induced shrinking “penises” was an “‘existential crisis,’” reflected in decreasing fertility rates. PinkNews panicked that “global warming is coming for your penis.” It continued: “If that’s not a wake up call, we don’t know what is.”TMZ sounded the eco-extremist alarm too: “And you thought a cold pool was bad ... sound the alarm!!!” Business Insider’s story on the matter was headlined, “Boys are being born with testicles in the wrong place, and pollution could be to blame.”

VICE’s report was arguably the most cringeworthy. Its entire story on “Shrinking Human Penises” was headed up by an image of phallic-shaped fruit and vegetables.

Note that rather to disprove anything Swan wrote, Vazquez instead twisted it into a political attack by citing a single $100 donation to Biden's campaign Swan once made -- as if that has any relevance whatsoever to the kind of research she's doing. Vazquez did, however, claim that "JunkScience founder Steve Milloy has been critical of Swan’s work on the matter as recently as 2019." Not only is that also irrelevant to the matter at hand -- no evidence was cited of Milloy doing anything other than whining about Swan's work -- Vazquez failed to mention that Milloy is a right-wing activist and climate denier who has received funding from polluters such as tobacco and pesticide makers.

That large-scale activism seems a lot more relevant to mention than a single $100 political donation, but Vazquez apparently didn't think so.

That was followed by a new threat to masculinity: the idea of men getting vasectomies in response to the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade and extreme anti-abortion laws. When an Oklahoma lawmaker introduced a bill requiring teenage boys to get a vasectomy in response to a bill that effectively outlawed nearly all abortions in the state, John Simmons had a meltdown in a May 2022 post:

Abortions in Oklahoma were almost completely wiped out thanks to House Bill 4327, a bill that will only allow abortions if the child is a product of rape or incest (and confirmed by law enforcement) and if the pregnancy threatens the life of the mother

However, before the bill was signed on Thursday, State Rep. Mickey Dollens (D, Oklahoma City) took the house floor to say that he was touting a bill that he thought would be a better solution than banning abortions.

Sorry fellas, but it involves you and your ability to produce a baby.

Dollens thought it would be better to pass a bill that would require all Oklahoman males to get a vasectomy once they reach puberty.

Simmons complained that Dollens is "just showboating for the base" by expressing "an emotional outburst a man who may or may not really believe abortion is healthcare and not murder." As if an extreme anti-abortion law was not also showboating for the base.

Alex Christy started a July 2022 post by complaining that "The Tuesday tragicomic edition of CBS Mornings profiled a couple of men who had a suggestion on how men can do their part in the after of the Supreme Court’s ruling to strike down Roe v. Wade: get a vasectomy," further grousing that the reporter "played up ill-founded fears that birth control is next." Actually, if a Supreme Court justice advocated that the overturning of laws that legalized birth control should follow the overturning of Roe, it seems such fears are quite founded. Christy ultimately decided it was a good thing these two guys got vasectomies: "It is sad that it took the Supreme Court to instill some sense of responsibility for these two, but at least they will not pass their wisdom on to the next generation."

Wallace White, meanwhile, spent an August 2022 post have a major freakout, wildly accusing a hot dog stand of a "degenerate, antinatalist scheme" by giving free milkshakes to men who can show proof of having a vasectomy in response to another extreme anti-abortion law:

If abortion enthusiasts can’t kill babies in the womb, they’ll encourage people to stop them from being made in the first place. In Nashville, Daddy’s Dogs restaurant is giving out free milkshakes to customers that show proof of a vasectomy, as according to The Tennessean, and made the rounds on Twitter just recently.

Daddy’s Dogs (yes, that’s the real name), a hot dog restaurant in Nashville, wanted to voice its support for abortion, as owner Sean Porter made this Instagram post June 29 urging people to come claim their free sugery drink for the low price of sterlizing yourself, calling it his “snip for shake” deal. Clever and creepy. If anything symbolizes American consumerism, it’s this degenerate, antinatalist scheme.

Recently the post made its way to Twitter, sparking conversations and condemnation alike. The owner said to The Tennessean, “The world's a pretty crazy place right now, but I have a way to make it just a little bit better."

And please tell me how sterilizing yourself makes the world a better place? What kind of perversion of morals is this?

White then huffed that those getting vasectomies were "half-men" who are serving "the Moloch cause," whatever that is:

One commenter on the Instagram post said that Porter was, “out here doing the Lord's work.” That is quite literally the opposite of the Lord’s work, but people who sterilize themselves in the name of abortion probably don’t care for the Lord.

Tennessee will end abortion after 6 weeks and protect the unborn. But that won’t stop deranged leftist half-men from getting vasectomies, and Daddy’s Dogs from rewarding their service to the Moloch cause with a milkshake.

What a time to be alive.

What a time indeed, when a summer intern gets paid to hurl such hate and abuse over a vasectomy. (Invoking Moloch is a thing at the MRC, by the way; it has attacked anyone who supports legalized abortion as servants of Moloch.)

Anti-abortion extremist Tierin-Rose Mandelburg also had her own vasectomy freakouts:

• In an October 2022 post, Mandelburg complained that "one doctor has decided to travel across Iowa to offer free vasectomies" in part to mark the reversal of Roe v. Wade. She was less obsessed with manhood and more about sexual prudery and being quietly pleased that fewer pregnancies will happen: "While I personally think it’s a little extreme to get a vasectomy to prevent a pregnancy, at least no babies will be harmed and that is afterall the goal of the pro-life movement."
• Mandelburg had a similar anti-abortion-obsessive take on vasectomies in a December 2022 post, huffing that "Planned Parenthood, aka the giant abortion mill, confirmed that vasectomy procedures have skyrocketed in the months following the Roe v. Wade overturn" and adding: "Politically motivated vasectomies just make zero sense. It might make sense if a man simply doesn’t want to impregnate a woman but for him to do as an act of making a political statement seems a bit silly."
• Despite her keep-it-in-your-pants attitude, Mandelburg melted down in another October 2022 post after a CBS segment promoted a book called "Ejaculate Responsibly" that pointed out how men take little responsibility for birth control: "It’s an interesting concept to say the least, but it was cringe to hear CBS dedicate so much time to talking about ejaculation."

Clay Waters had his own vasectomy meltdown in a Nov. 14 post:

After the PBS News Hour aired a curious story Thursday on “How climate change risks impact people with disabilities,” they offered another niche left-wing cultural selection on Saturday’s PBS News Weekend, courtesy of St. Louis-based PBS “community correspondent” Gabrielle Hays, about a spike in men supposedly rushing out to get vasectomies after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade and returned the abortion issue to the states.

In true PBS woke fashion, the terms “male” and “female” and “men” and “women” rarely appeared in two stories by Hays (one a television story, one an older PBS.org print story) about the sensitive and exclusively masculine procedure. One doctor Hays talked to resorted to the bizarre and awkward term “people with uteruses” to identify the class of people formerly known as “women.”

Planned Parenthood is intimately involved in the new vasectomy movement, and Hays awkwardly attempted to show that some ideological statement was being made regarding the Dobbs decision -- as if social conservatives would be trying to ban vasectomies next!

Given that conservatives want to ban birth control, there's no reason they wouldn't want to ban vasectomies; indeed, right-wingers are trying to shame men for getting them. And if Waters wasn't trying to similarly do that, there was no reason to invoke Planned Parenthood as a provider of them. He continued to complain:

Hays then explained: “Planned Parenthood held a three-day vasectomy clinic and three different cities across state of Missouri (...) One person I spoke to last week told me that he got it after the Dobbs decision because he was afraid that at some point maybe the option wouldn't be available to him in the future...."

Hays’ October 24 print article made a ridiculous comparison between abortion (what many consider the killing of a human being) to vasectomies (the blocking of male gametes from fertilizing female ova -- no new human beings involved).

[...]

Woke language followed on the tax-funded news outlet:

Dr. Esgar Guarín, who performed Jon’s vasectomy, said it’s important that the topic of contraception doesn’t rest solely on people with uteruses.

It's not "woke" to expect only women to take responsibility for contraception -- unless, of course, Waters wants to ban that too.

Obi-Wan insufficiently masculine?

Marvel and DC aren't the only fantastical universes the MRC has been bashing for failing to conform to right-wing orthodoxy. Summer intern Michael Ippolito -- who has a thing about masculinity -- devoted a June 2022 post to complaining that a new iteration of Obi-Wan Kenobi was insufficiently manly, and he has apparently decided that not manly enough for the MRC's purposes is exactly the same thing as "grooming":

The attack on male characters never stops coming from the groomer kingdom Disney. The House of Mouse wants to ensure that every male character is emasculated to make way for their new diverse and PC characters. The days of strong and silent male characters are long gone, and here come the weak beta males.

Disney’s most lucrative property, Star Wars, has released a new television series for its streaming service Disney + titled “Kenobi.” The series focuses on the iconic science fiction hero Obi-Wan Kenobi, played by Ewan McGregor, during his time on Tatooine. Three episodes have been released so far, revealing Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy’s goal to make every male hero a bumbling fool of himself. Not surprising, based on her previous comments that“The Force is Female.”

The degradation of male heroes is evident in this new series. Obi-Wan Kenobi was portrayed as a stoic hero who was not afraid of putting himself in harm's way. He was dedicated, competent, and brave. However, after a few doses of Disney’s woke brand, the character has become a shell of his former self. This new woke Obi-Wan is bitter, cowardly, and chooses to run away from his responsibility. As described by YouTuber Overlord DVD, Obi-Woke Kenobi is now an old hermit in despair: “He hasn’t been practicing his Force skills so they’re pretty much of little use to him in an emergency and, worse, Kenobi no longer even believes in the mission”

Soy Kenobi “No longer believes in the Jedi. As badly as Kenobi has neglected his mission and failed in every regard, that way, he is shown to be even more cowardly than Luke.”

Characters that once inspired audiences are now vessels for a woke agenda. We see Kenobi overshadowed by female characters who either boss him around or constantly save him from danger throughout the show. This is no shocker given that all-new Star Wars media has brought back classic male heroes to make them weaker and overshadowed by their female counterparts.

Ippolito didn't explain why some random guy who makes YouTube videos is any sort of authority on anything beyond his spouting of accepted right-wing narratives.

Ippolito also whined that a "Kenobi" co-star pushed back at racist comments from fans (like Ippolito?) and that she had support from the franchise in doing so:

What’s worse is the off-screen propaganda Disney is promoting. When fans were criticizing actress Moses Ingram, who stars alongside Ewan, about her character, she immediately played the race card. Star Wars went to her defense online, and even McGregor stepped in on Twitter to say, “You’re no Star Wars fan in my Mind” if you don’t accept this new woke character. If Ingram is dealing with racist comments, she should handle it professionally, not send the woke mob after her audience.

Ippolito offered no evidence to support his claim that Ingram's character is "woke," or did he offer any proof that there weren't racist attacks on her -- or why she, but not the racists, was the one "playing the race card." And sending mobs after people and businesses it doesn't like is pretty much what the MRC does for a living, making it a profession and, thus, no different from what Ingram did (which was merely posting images of the racism on her Instagram account). White didn't detail what his version of "professionally" responding to racism looks like.

This is not the only fit of fragile masculinity Ippolito had during his MRC stint. In an Aug. 12 post, he claimed that Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke showed a "lack of masculinity" in reacting harshly to an audience member to laughed as he talking about the school massacre in Uvalde, Texas, even bizarrely calling him a "Beto Male" in the headline. Ippolito didn't explain what, exactly, is not "masculine" about O'Rourke defending the honor of children murdered in a gun massacre.

'Rings of Power' masculinity (and racism)

A September 2022 post by Stephanie Hamill began by whining:

Not a fan of the new Lord of the Rings TV series? Well then, you might just be a racist or a bigot according to some on the left.

Apparently, you can’t give an honest review about Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power without being called a racist or bigot because of Middle-earth’s new more "diverse and gender-balanced characters."

You see, movies and shows that have the right amount of diversity appear to be off limits when it comes to critiques about the quality and content, or at least that’s what it seems like these days.

After citing someone calling out right-wing trolls for launching vicious attacks on the series because some of the dwarves were not white -- even though J.R.R. Tolkien put implied racial undertones into his Middle-Earth that would make a depiction of some underclasses very much true to canon -- Hamill tried to frame these racist attacks as mere concern about "integrity":

So what some J.R.R Tolkien fans were concerned about was whether or not the new series on Prime Video would respect the integrity of his legendary work. Which is a legitimate concern considering many of us have noticed how Hollywood producers tend to ruin sequels and remakes when they focus on skin color and woke messages rather than the story and production value, among other things.

So being against racism is being "woke" instead of a commonsense position every sentient being should have?

Hamill then tried to downplay the idea that racist trolls were spamming review sites with bad reviews, insisting they were really concerned about content:

But the release of the episodes clearly didn’t get the reaction and reviews Amazon was hoping for. So much so that Amazon halted reviews to prevent trolling. According to the Hollywood Reporter an Amazon source told it that reviews are being held for 72 hours to "help weed out trolls and to ensure each review is legitimate."

It’s very possible that this is a sincere effort to combat internet trolls, but this also could just be a ploy by Amazon to hide bad reviews.

Now over at Rotten Tomatoes the situation isn’t much better for Amazon, as The Rings of Power has an average audience score of 39 percent, which is rather interesting considering the TV critics gave it a score of 85 Percent.

As for what some viewers aren’t liking about the show? Well, the reviews and responses on social media vary.

Now we move on to the narrative Hamill really wants to push: the show's males aren't masculine enough. She uncritically quotes Elon Musk tweeting that "Almost every male character so far is a coward, a jerk or both. Only Galadriel is brave, smart and nice," as well as her own tweet calling the show "wokified" without offering any examples beyond an accompanying picture of a black character. (The MRC has a bit of a thing about masculinity.) She continued to insist this, and not racism, was the real issue the trolls have:

These were just a few examples, if you go through social media and read the reviews you will find that the majority of people didn't actually take issue with the new diverse characters. Those who weighed in were complaining a lot about the plot, the dialogue, the special effects, the list goes on.

Either way, the series drew more that 25 million viewers according to Amazon, making it the biggest premiere in the history of Prime Video.

Hamill touted those review-bombed low ratings again in a Sept. 19 post:

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings Of Power's fourth episode, 'The Great Wave,' was released on Friday, September 16, which means we are now halfway through the new Lord of the Rings series' first season (of a reported five), and it doesn’t look like things are getting much better when it comes to the reviews of Amazon’s latest high profile show.

Things have gotten so bad that The Rings of Power is comparable in low user ratings to the Disney+ series, She-Hulk: Attorney-at-Law on not only movie and TV review site Rotten Tomatoes, but also Metacritic.

But not so much, Metacritic users are giving the series an unfavorable user score of 2.4 out of 10. And over at Rotten Tomatoes, the audience reviews are still hovering in the upper 30's (out of 100), which hasn't changed since the release of the first two episodes.

If you compare the numbers to She-Hulk, you will notice the two series have strikingly similar marks, high critic scores and low audience reviews.

The Disney+ series has been described as a "woke, feminist mess" by Newsbusters contributing writer Elise Ehrhard, and I couldn't agree more.

Yes, the MRC did heavily whine about "She-Hulk" being "woke," whatever that is.

Hamill was also still insisting that it's not racist for online trolls to complain that the existence of non-white races in the show, and you're part of the "woke mob" for even pointing that out:

Some in the media and the "woke mob" have been labeling those with legitimate critiques about the series as "racists," including some of the hosts over at The View who went off on those who weren't gushing over the 'The Rings of Power' and other new shows with diverse casts.

You see, no one is allowed to have a negative opinion about the series because of Middle-earth’s new more diverse and gender-balanced characters - or at least that's what is seems like.

The problem with this idea is that it's intellectually dishonest. You're not by default an angry racist because you don't like the new series. Those who are going along with this notion clearly aren't listening to what viewers are complaining about in regards to the new Lord of the Rings series, which Kain perfectly describes in his article.

The problem with Hamill's line of logic is that complaining about the show's "diverse and gender-balanced characters" is very much a racist and sexist criticism -- something to which Hamill is (perhaps deliberately) oblivious.

Hamill spun again in an October 2022 post, whining that the "beta male" characters was really the most "common" criticism of the show":

The first season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings Of Power has come to an end, with the eighth episode titled, ‘Alloyed,’ airing on Friday, October 14. I must say it's been a long journey filled with disappointment and too many cringeworthy moments to count.

Now one of the most common complaints among J.R.R Tolkien fans and popular critics was that male characters were portrayed as ‘weak’ and ‘cowardly’ throughout the series, among other things.

[...]

I think it’s safe to say that most of us don’t take issue with strong female characters in shows - I certainly don’t. That being said, it would be nice if there was a little balance, right?

The key to good fiction is believability, and one could argue that the writers of Rings of Power focused on cramming in the woke feminist agenda, in turn, throwing plausibility out the window.

In this Amazon series you get the sense that the writers wanted you to know that women are stronger, smarter and better than men. It felt forced to say the least, which lead to a plethora of cringy, awkward, and unrealistic looking scenes — filled with beta males.

Hamill once again insisted that none of the criticism of the show could possibly have been racist:

You see, no one is allowed to have a negative opinion about the series because of Middle Earth’s new more diverse and gender-balanced characters - or at least that's what is seems like.

Those who are accusing critics of 'racism' are dishonest and lazy. Want proof? Take a look at the difference between audience scores for The Rings of Power and House of Dragon.

The House of Dragon is also a high-profile, fantasy TV show with a diverse cast, and it happens to be hugely successful, with an average audience score of 84 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

So it appears the so called 'racist backlash' against Rings of Power actually had nothing to do with the new diverse cast and more to do with the plot, the dialogue, the special effects, the list goes on.

Note to Hamill: Complaining about the show's "diverse and gender-balanced characters" is an inherently racist criticism, and if you're still whining about that, all the attempts to distract from said racism by huffing about "beta males" and citing reviews of a completely different show (in which she assumes without proof that the two shows appeal to exactly the same audience) doesn't change its racist nature.

A Feb. 21 post by Jay Maxson fretted that major league baseball has become insufficiently manly because one player was decorating his nails:

The rigid walls of toxic masculinity are crumbling before our eyes -- because a major league baseball player for the Boston Red Sox plans to paint his fingernails and toenails before every game this season. First baseman Tristan Casas is helping to change the “stereotypically macho image of MLB players for the better,” according to sensationalist Outsports writer Ken Schultz.

During spring training in Florida, Casas displayed red fingernail polish and white painted toenails. This girly look is “great” for baseball, Schultz declared.:

[...]

This fitting development from the Grapefruit League is an important step in encouraging once-macho big leaguers to freely express their personalities (inner femininity?), making baseball a more compelling and welcoming game, Schultz raved.

Given that Maxson melted down the day before over a minor league baseball player coming out as gay -- whining that "Heterosexual players are never congratulated or celebrated for helping to raise the next generation of human beings" -- it's no surprise that the rant about manliness in baseball continued:

By painting his nails, Casas is adding to the legend of softer baseball players like Joc Pederson, who wore a pearl necklace during the Atlanta Braves’ World Series run in 2021. Along with St. Louis hitting coach Turner Ward kissing Lars Nootbar’s cheek last year to celebrate his birthday. These are men who add color to a sport that’s been suffocated by tradition. With the implication it’s been damaged by men acting like men.

These outliers in the manly sport of baseball are helping to generate more inclusion in baseball culture. In fact, Schultz argues that the men cited above made it possible for White Sox minor leaguer Anderson Comas to simultaneously come out of the bullpen and the closet. They’re just being who they really are … and all that jazz, the LGBTABCD narrative goes.

A little thing like red nails makes a bigger statement than one would think, Schultz goes on. Stepping outside “the rigid definition of masculinity” opens a window for inclusion allowing Comas to live out his truths and emboldens allies to affirm him.

Even though no major leaguer has ever come out as an active player, a guy painting his nails is no small feat. It’s another step in the feminization of men. Somehow, this is supposed to make us a better nation.

But Maxson never explained why this matters. If Casas or any other player can perform at the major league level, what does it matter if they paint their nails or even fail to be heterosexual? Could be that Maxson is just a homophobe -- an odd stance for someone whose bio carries a sexually ambiguous first name and no photo so he readers would know what sex he is.

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