The so-called “manosphere” is a “terrible” expression of “bodily desire,” but it is essentially a reaction “to the progressive erasure of gender.”
Dr. Seth Trout, who teaches at Ironwood Church in the Phoenix metropolitan area and is the author of the new book “Authentic Masculinity: Leaving a Copycat for God’s Design,” recently appeared on CBN’s “Faith in Culture” to discuss the growing male-centered phenomenon.
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For years, the manosphere existed as a nascent movement hidden in the shadows of the internet, but in recent years it has entered the mainstream with increasingly well-known names such as Andrew Tate, Myron Gaines, and Braden Peters, a young man who goes by the name “Clavicular” online.
“This is a response to the progressive left, which says there is no such thing as essential men and women, and that everything is a social construct,” he said. “And the promotion of androgyny, which celebrates the idea that men and women are fundamentally interchangeable, kind of like third-wave feminism that says there’s no distinction between men and women.”
The secular left, he argued, presents an “androgynous vision” of men and women. Trout said the two are “fundamentally similar” but “not interchangeable.”
“When Adam saw Eve in the garden, he said, ‘Bone is my bone, and my flesh is my flesh. At last there is one like me,'” he said. “You know, this is my paraphrase. I think there’s something like a real image of the likeness of God that we have as humans. But God doesn’t create humans in general, he creates men and women.”
As an “overreaction to the gradual erasure of gender,” Trout calls the “unhealthy” manosphere “a kind of reduction of men to animals” that encourages “the pursuit of sex, power, and money.”
One solution to this problem, the pastor said, is to address the pandemic of loneliness that many men face.
Recent data from Gallup shows that a quarter of men ages 15 to 34 in the United States report feeling very lonely in the previous day, which is significantly higher than the national average and the rate for young women (both 18%). Additionally, men are four times more likely to die by suicide than women.
A central tenet of Trout’s view of biblical masculinity is the cultivation of “meaningful and intimate male friendships.” He pointed to the relationship between Jonathan and David in the Old Testament, which many “progressives in the church” incorrectly classify as homosexual.
Trout dismissed that false interpretation as “sexist” and “disrespectful,” but he believes the view has damaged the possibility of deep, profound bonds between men in the church.
He said he would like to see a culture in Christendom of men who are not only devoted to their wives, but also to lifelong friendships that help them get through the different seasons of life.
“It’s really a blessing to have quality friends,” Trout said. “If you only have a wife, or only an internet community, you’re going to quickly fall into a dark place at some point and be lonely.”
Watch the full conversation with Trout in the video above.
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