In short
Lisa Britton argues that society “demonizes male ambition” and neglects boys and men, creating crises in education, mental health, and social stability. She claims resources and compassion have shifted toward girls/women, producing a gender “us vs them” dynamic that harms both sexes.
Guest backgrounds
Lisa Britton is a writer and advocate. She began as a feminist, then pivoted to advocating for men. She has published on Substack (including The Demonization of Male Ambition), Evie Magazine, and the Los Angeles Times, and has done policy-oriented work in Washington, D.C.
Key claims
Boys are falling behind in education; men have worse mental-health outcomes (e.g., higher suicide and overdose rates); the federal government lacks an Office of Men’s Health; and “pop feminism” can devalue womanhood by pushing women to be “more like men.” She also argues the “manosphere” label is overly broad and used to dismiss legitimate discussion.
Notable examples
60% of U.S. college students are women; men are 4x more likely to die by suicide; 71% of drug overdoses involve men; eight federal women’s health offices vs none for men; proposals for an Office of Men’s Health and a fathers-and-sons interagency council. She cites figures like Joe Rogan, Andrew Huberman, and Andrew Tate as examples of male success or extremes, and discusses “girlboss”/delayed motherhood messaging affecting fertility.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOThe Crisis of Men and Boys
0:46 to 2:44
Discussion on the perceived crisis facing men and boys today, including education and mental health.
“And a lot of people were upset about that, not because actually of anything that Piker said or things that he has said in the past, which have sort of come back to haunt him.”
Lisa Britton's Journey to Advocacy
2:45 to 4:50
Lisa shares her evolution from feminist advocacy to focusing on men's issues.
“And we don't often talk about the struggles of boys and young men.”
Crisis Awareness and Feminist Backlash
4:51 to 6:51
Lisa discusses the backlash she faced from the feminist community upon advocating for boys.
“But really, I'm nonpartisan and I stay nonpartisan so I can do my work.”
The Education Gap Discussion
6:52 to 9:06
Exploration of the education gap and its implications for boys and men.
“that they, you know, they're doing fine.”
Biological Differences in Learning
9:07 to 12:00
Discussion on how biological differences affect boys' learning and behavior in educational settings.
“I was like, you're instilling a us versus them mentality in young women when we all have to come together if we want to protect the environment.”
The Male Privilege Debate
12:01 to 14:02
Exploration of the argument surrounding male privilege and its impact on current educational disparities.
“Then you have a kid and you realize it's like my daughter, she gravitated towards dolls almost immediately, not because of anything we did, right?”
Understanding Gender Differences in Early Education
14:02 to 14:35
Explore the differences in verbal skills between young boys and girls and their educational implications.
“So I see the good things, pros and cons of both sides of the argument.”
Debating Male Privilege and Education
14:35 to 15:13
Discussion on whether the education gap stems from male privilege or societal biases against young men.
“Boys who expect to succeed without credentials still do while girls have to sort of like over-credential to compete.”
The Unemployment Crisis Among Young Men
15:13 to 16:04
Delve into the alarming statistics of unemployed men and the societal impact of their situation.
“if it was a woman, it's more than likely going to go to the woman.”
Mental Health Issues and Male Health Neglect
16:04 to 17:06
Examine the mental health crisis among men and the lack of federal focus on men's health.
“What are they doing all day if they're not working or looking for work?”
Show all 39 chapters
Government's Role in Men's Health
17:06 to 18:18
Discuss the need for a dedicated office for men's health and the government's current neglect.
“Despite, as we just noted, all of these health effects that are worse for men than women, suicide, overdoses.”
Trump's Stance on Men's Health Issues
18:18 to 19:29
Analyze Trump's approach to men's health and his administration's actions regarding related funding.
“It seems like a no-brainer for somebody like President Trump who has sort of, you know, he has a sort of like, I don't know if it's fair or not, but he has a reputation of being sort of like a guy's guy.”
The Stigma Surrounding Drug Overdose
19:29 to 20:55
Address societal perceptions of drug overdoses and the stigma faced by men who suffer from addiction.
“But I'd like to see more done at that level.”
The Manosphere and Male Ambition
20:55 to 21:46
Explore the complexities of the manosphere and its impact on discussions of male ambition and success.
“It's like, no, well, maybe he was just a regular guy who got hooked on pain pills from a surgery.”
Gender Dynamics in Podcasting
21:46 to 23:31
Examine the discussion around gender representation in podcasting and the misconceptions therein.
“I don't know if you saw my piece, but the manosphere smear.”
Challenges Faced by Men in Modern Society
23:31 to 24:15
Discuss the societal pressures and challenges men face today, including the rise of negative influences.
“I look at the statistics or the charts all the time.”
Addressing Toxic Masculinity and Its Effects
24:15 to 26:21
Explore the concept of toxic masculinity and how societal attitudes towards men are shaped.
“So that's the problem because the manosphere is kind of – it's become like a boogeyman word.”
Navigating Mischaracterization in Public Discourse
26:21 to 28:00
Discuss the difficulty of being mischaracterized in public discourse and the importance of clear messaging.
“There's a few things he says that I'm like, wow, he's on point right there.”
The Challenge of Changing Minds
28:00 to 29:00
Discussing the difficulty of shifting public perceptions and engaging new audiences.
“And if they end up thinking, oh, well, she's a right-wing nut or whatever, I can't make them think any different.”
Male Ambition and Its Historical Impact
29:00 to 29:40
Exploring the role of male ambition in human progress and societal structures.
“Lisa, I want to quote from the Substack essay we were talking about.”
Natural Differences and Gender Roles
29:40 to 31:30
Examining the relationship dynamics based on natural differences and societal expectations.
“But there's actually – so the piece goes on to say this.”
Critique of Modern Feminism
31:30 to 32:40
Critiquing contemporary feminist messages and their implications for women.
“and they'll be more valued if they were more like traditional men.”
Consequences of Delayed Motherhood
32:40 to 34:20
Discussing the implications of prioritizing career over family planning.
“So to me, I know it can sound conservative-leaning, but in my opinion, I'm a true feminist because I'm saying that we need to value girls and women.”
Impact of Girlboss Culture
34:20 to 36:40
Analyzing how the girlboss phenomenon affects women's choices regarding family and career.
“They won't be there for you the way that your husband or wife or those kids will be.”
The Realities of Late Parenthood
36:40 to 37:30
Highlighting the risks and societal narratives surrounding late motherhood.
“And maybe you can cheat it if you're a billionaire.”
Shifting Perspectives on Parenthood
37:30 to 39:40
Discussing changing views on parenthood and the balance of personal and societal expectations.
“Of having a child later into your 40s and stuff.”
The Importance of Family and Support
39:40 to 42:04
Emphasizing the need for familial support and its impact on life decisions.
“No more hanging around, chasing girls, and you're going to have to change dirty diapers and all of the bad stuff.”
Political Impacts on Male Health
42:04 to 43:10
Explore how societal factors and political agendas affect men's health and education.
“the thing that gives me pleasure more than any, you know.”
Legislative Proposals for Men's Issues
43:10 to 44:38
Discussion on proposed legislative changes to address men's health and representation.
“So I have been part of a group for a decade trying to get this done.”
Shifting Gender Dynamics in Society
44:38 to 46:05
Analyze the changing societal perceptions of men and women in recent years.
“We could really just, even the gesture of doing those things will make boys and men feel like they matter, you know?”
A New Age of Discourse
46:05 to 46:25
The importance of women's voices in discussing men's issues as a means to reduce stigma.
“But now I've really noticed over the last couple of years, we have Scott Galloway and Richard Reeves and these people out there on mainstream, left-leaning shows talking about it.”
Understanding Political Ideologies and Gender
46:25 to 49:12
Examine the partisan divide between young men and women and its implications.
“That is probably the biggest compliment anybody's ever given me.”
The Role of Technology in Gender Perception
49:12 to 50:48
Discuss how social media and technology influence gender perceptions and relationships.
“Charts like that are important to share, to show people, okay, we might be looking over there, but we're actually supposed to be looking over there.”
Social Media's Impact on Gender Relations
50:48 to 52:19
Explore how social media shapes emotional responses and behavior among genders.
“And I also think, too, that could spark that divide is that there's a lot of rhetoric that if the role, genders were reversed in it, you would say that's the most misogynistic thing I've ever heard.”
Feminism and Traditional Values Discussion
52:19 to 54:29
Address the intersection of feminism with traditional values and women's roles.
“I don't know if you've seen, there was a chart that was going around last week, similar to this one, that showed that women treat their political adversaries poorly.”
Evie Magazine's Approach to Modern Feminism
54:29 to 56:00
Discover how Evie Magazine is redefining women's issues and celebrating femininity.
“And usually people, it's hard to get people to see what you're trying to say and not taking it personally, going through their personal perspectives and their own, you know, glasses that they're wearing.”
Discussing Taboo Topics in Relationships
56:00 to 56:30
Explore the surprising perception of intimacy in modern relationships.
Feminism and Men's Issues: A Shift in Perspective
56:30 to 57:26
Learn about the evolving discourse on men’s issues within feminist circles.
“Don't get me wrong, not all feminists out there are against helping boys and men.”
Promoting Evie Magazine and Its Impact
57:26 to 58:08
Discover the significance of Evie Magazine in addressing men's topics.
“And when you say somebody like Melinda Gates, who, in my opinion, is like the queen of feminists, you know, of that like strong girl power feminist.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Hello again from Newsweek headquarters at the top of the World Trade Center in New York City. This is another edition of the 1600. This country was stone cold dead. I, of course, am Carlo Versano. So we're going to take, again, I don't really want to say it's a break from politics, but it's a little bit of a break from the day-to-day politics. And we're going to talk a little bit about something that we talked about a while ago on the show, which is men, boys, you guys, what's wrong with us? What's going on with men exactly? Exactly. One of the most controversial things I've actually ever done since we started the 1600, 18 months ago now, 19 months ago, was a – some of you guys will remember back in September we did a week called Man Week, which was a little bit tongue-in-cheek.
0:39But the idea was to sort of get on the record talking about some of the issues that are facing men, particularly young men and boys right now. And that culminated in the interview I did with Hassan Piker on the show. And a lot of people were upset about that, not because actually of anything that Piker said or things that he has said in the past, which have sort of come back to haunt him. But there were a lot of people both in the office here and among our audience who were a little bit miffed. I guess you could say that we were talking about this at all. You know, people ask me, why is a legacy media organization, you know, choosing to spend time talking about guys and the issues that are sort of particular to us?
1:16I mean, we are half of the population, but we don't really always get the, you know, that sort of treatment in the media, I guess you could say. All that is a long way of saying, introducing my guest today, who has been taking up this fight with both words and her actions. Lisa Britton is with me today. Hey, Lisa. Lisa is a writer and an advocate. She started as a feminist, I guess you could say, in sort of the classical sense of the word. And she's since pivoted towards advocating for men. Thank you for that. Most recently with a great Substack essay called The Demonization of Male Ambition. Lisa, she's here in the flesh with me today.
1:52Lisa, thanks so much. Thank you so much for having me. I mentioned before I'm just so happy people are having these discussions. You say legacy media. Why are they talking about men? We need the legacy media to talk about men. Well, I agree with you. Absolutely. I appreciate that. So I'm going to get to the piece you wrote on Substack and some of your other work, both on Substack and Evie Magazine, where you also write. Also, you did a piece in the L.A. Times. So Lisa's been around. I'm sure you've seen her byline, if not her in the flesh. But here she is. What does it mean when people say that men and boys are in crisis?
2:25So for the past few decades, boys have been falling behind in education. They've been struggling. They kind of have no purpose today or feel like they have no purpose. And then we see mental health just it's being abolished right now for young men, especially. And we don't often talk about the struggles of boys and young men. A lot of people just dismiss the issues as, oh, well, they're just afraid of losing privilege or maybe it's woman's turn to get ahead. And I believe that ignoring the crisis of boys and men is destroying everything. It really is from families, relationships, dating today to national security issues.
3:12Interesting. Yeah. Like I seriously think this is one of the biggest crises of our time and it should be a top priority. But a lot of people just still laugh it away or say men don't need help. Right. It's funny you say the thing about it being women's turn. Because I remember when Hillary Clinton ran for president almost, I guess, 10 years ago now, something that really sort of like upset – didn't really upset me, but it sort of rubbed me the wrong way about her campaign. There were many things. But one of the things was – one of her slogans was, it's her turn. I remember thinking to myself, what does that mean?
3:47Like her turn? Like there's no – that's not how this works, right? Like men – like we're not competing against each other, right? And I think you've even said something to that effect. Like we're on the same team. I would say we're – men and women aren't meant to be rivals. We're on the same team. If you root for just like one sex to win, both sexes lose. And we're seeing that today. It's coming around to bite us, this kind of one-sided focus on just supporting girls and women for decades. Right, which is not to say that they should not be supported, of course. And we'll get into all that. But I want to talk a little bit about your sort of origin story, if you will.
4:21I've actually heard you called a conservative firebrand, but I don't think that that's fair to you. No. I mean, you tell me if you think it is, but I don't think it is. I actually don't think it is because I'm nonpartisan. But because of what I speak on, people kind of frame me as a conservative or right wing or Republican. But actually, I'm nonpartisan. And when I began, I was a full blown liberal, you know, voted for Obama, voted for Hillary, voted, you know. So they like to frame me as their conservative program. But really, I'm nonpartisan and I stay nonpartisan so I can do my work. I do work in D.C.
4:59I try to meet with leaders and help them with policies. So I feel like if I stick to nonpartisan, then I'll be able to work with people a little bit easier. Well, I mean, I get that, too, because I mean, I'm outwardly a Democrat and a liberal again and sort of like the classical sense, whatever that even means anymore. But, you know, in the newsletter and on the podcast, I've said things that are, you know, sort of like a heretic would say, a liberal heretic would say. And people are always like, oh, my God, you're like a MAGA guy. It's like, can we stop with this duality, please, this binary thinking?
5:31There's no gray area right now. It's crazy. It's something that I think not only in this topic of Boys and Men, but in all topics, we just really need to address. There's a gray area. No, there's a gray area in everything. We all don't check a box and we're 100 % in that box. But back to you. I mean, so I would call you more of a sort of heterodox centrist. But what you are is you're trying to drag us liberals kicking and screaming towards a conversation that we have frankly been avoiding for a long time. But I would say particularly over the last decade or so during this period of, you know, people call it the Great Awokening or the Me Too movement.
6:04But it's more than that. It's really the sort of, I think, a change in society over the last 10 years or so. My question to you is in your past feminist advocacy and your sort of like past life, what was the data that you saw that sort of stopped you in your tracks and made you rethink sort of what you were doing? That's fair. Yeah, it came at me because I was actually in D.C. advocating for girls and women. I was trying to fight the victimhood mentality. But it was the late Senator John McCain's staff member who said, we love what you're doing for girls and women, but you should look into boys.
6:38They really need our help now. When was that? This was 2018. Okay. So pre-COVID. Yeah, so pre-COVID. And I looked at her like she had three heads. I was like, boys, why would we ever have to help boys? that they, you know, they're doing fine. So then I went home and I dove into, like, what is she talking about, boys? And then that's when I saw it, the high suicide rates, falling behind in education, they're dropping out of the workforce. And then I found almost like this, almost like an underground movement, but they, I mean, they've been doing it for a very long time, of advocates for boys and men.
7:16So that's when I stumbled across Dr. Warren Farrell, who's written books. He wrote The Boy Crisis on the topic. And I started just tweeting, posting online about, you know, I think this and that. I found out this. And then that's when it really started growing. So you were sort of there before, because I feel like COVID, I mean, COVID changed so many things, mostly for the worst. But I think that that was really when I think you started to sort of see this disparity in the sexes, just in how they're, I don't know, how they're treated. but also some of this data really that you talked about with suicide rates and the education gap, which I want to ask you about.
7:54Definitely. It was around COVID and because we're all on our phones a lot. So kind of it poured the fuel on the flames of all the issues going on, kind of how big tech has taken advantage of young men and stuff like that. And then people were just talking more and people like me were causing people to get all upset and stuff like that. And then with the elections and everything, it's just fueled the conversation. But what did the feminist community that you were sort of a part of, like, what did they say when you started talking more about boys? Did they see you as a heretic? Were you ever canceled?
8:29I became public enemy number one. There was a few times at one point I almost deleted my Twitter because a very prominent feminist, I won't say her name, targeted me. All I did was call it in a magazine article. She said, men created climate change. Now it's going to take women to fix it. So I just wrote a post and it wasn't mean or anything. I said, this isn't good. It was a magazine for young women. I said, this isn't good. Men and women created the climate changes that we see as we're riding on our phones and wearing our disposable clothing and everything like that. I was like, you're instilling a us versus them mentality in young women when we all have to come together if we want to protect the environment.
9:16And she retweeted my post and just said, go get her, guys. And that's all she said. And then blocked me. And I got bombarded. All of these threats. Like, just quit now. You're this. You're that. And I couldn't believe it. Very prominent. Like, this is someone who you'd want to kind of like, let's be emotionally mature about our messaging. and all worked together, but they did not like that. I was seen as a threat to them. You got an old-fashioned social media pile on, which was never fun. No. But the idea of turning climate change into a gender issue to me is like, what? I know. That's the way this messaging has been going, and it's wild.
9:58So let's talk a little bit about the education gap that you just mentioned. We hear a lot about the pay gap, and that's sort of a separate issue that I want to not necessarily discuss right now. The education gap to me is much more interesting. So look at some of these statistics. 60 percent of college students in the U.S. are now women. The gender gap in higher education, wider than it was when Title IX came to be in the 70s, flipped in the opposite direction though. So women now earn the majority of associates, bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees. Lisa, if those numbers were reversed, if it was 60 percent male, 40 percent female, what would the national response be?
10:34We saw what the national response was when we put in Title IX. Like when it was the opposite way, people said, we need to change this. We need parity. We need equality. And we did something about it. Now that the numbers have switched, crickets. It's like, oh, well, maybe it's women's turn. It's like, no, no, no. If we truly want to strive for equal opportunity and just equality in general, then now that the numbers have flipped, we need to make some changes and start supporting boys and young men on their journey too. Yeah. I mean it's like why does the inverse not get the urgency that it did back when a law like Title IX came to be?
11:13This is a quote that you've written that I liked. When girls were behind in education, we said there's something wrong with the system. Now the boys are behind. There's something wrong with the boys. End quote. Is the system failing boys or are boys sort of failing to adapt to a changing world? I believe that the system is failing boys. Our education system favors feminine traits. Talk a little bit about that. Yeah, so study after study comes out that boys, there are differences between boys and girls. So I think that's important to first recognize. And by the way, I have a daughter. This is one of those things, I don't mean to interrupt you, but I think about it all the time.
11:55because I was probably one of those people who before I became a parent was like, oh, maybe the gender differences are, you know, maybe it's mostly a societal contract. Then you have a kid and you realize it's like my daughter, she gravitated towards dolls almost immediately, not because of anything we did, right? I mean, maybe you could argue, okay, some of that was like osmosis from society, but like she didn't watch television. So it didn't, her sort of the way that she's into princesses and, you know, fancy clothes and stuff. It seems very natural. It seems very natural. My twin, she had a boy.
12:27So he started moving towards cars to an extreme where at three years old, he could tell you what each car was driving by. And Deb's like, I'm not doing anything to cause this. It's coming from somewhere. It's like, I mean, when I pick my daughter up from school sometimes, you know, she's in preschool. It's like you walk into the classroom and, you know, the boys are all like beating the hell out of each other, right, running around like lunatics. And the girls are like sitting mostly by themselves, like playing with dolls. Quietly. Yeah, I don't think that that's something that the teacher did.
12:59It seems like more of a sort of biological. Boys have more energy. Sure. And there's research. They mature a little later than girls. Sure. And if we don't recognize those differences, then we're only catering to one side to help them succeed. Right. They keep taking away recess, things like that, and then only supporting girls' programs, STEM programs. The recess thing is very interesting. Recess is big because boys need to burn off that energy so they can sit still and learn. And there has been some ideas to help boys and young men. There's been the idea of red-chirting boys. Richard Reeves proposed this idea.
13:39Oh, this is keeping them back, holding them back. Yeah, holding them back for one year to start school. There's people on both sides who like it and don't like it. They kind of feel like, oh, well, you're instilling in boys that there's something wrong with them right from the get-go, you know? And then there's the other side that says, yeah, they mature a little bit later. So why don't we start school for boys maybe one year behind? So I see the good things, pros and cons of both sides of the argument. But it's really something we need to start thinking about if we want to help our boys. It's another thing I notice, again, from this little sample size I have of seeing all these four - and five-year-olds all day is that the girls are so much more advanced verbally than the boys.
14:22I mean, there's boys in her class who don't really talk. And it's not that they can't talk, but they don't really talk that much. But the girls are all chatterboxes, right? So, I mean, it's very clear that at these ages there's differences, right? So this education gap, I think, again, you sort of made this point, but people would argue or some probably argue that it's downstream of sort of like a downstream effect of male privilege. Boys who expect to succeed without credentials still do while girls have to sort of like over-credential to compete. What do you say to that? Well, I actually think that that isn't the case these days.
14:57And that kind of starts leaning into are we discriminating towards young men today? because actually studies show that things are more in favor of young women today. If there was equal candidates for a job and there are equal qualifications and everything, if it was a woman, it's more than likely going to go to the woman. I have a few. I have an article coming out soon about what's happening within the U.N. right now doing the same thing, even though they've reached gender parity in the senior levels. But there's still, why would we hire a man when we should hire a woman who's qualified for the job?
15:39That kind of thing. So when people, that's a very easy way to dismiss the crisis today is, well, it's a woman's turn. Let's see what happens with women. There's always consequences to that. I mean, I have the statistic here. There's 7 million working age men in America who are not working or looking for work right now. Right. So, I mean, we can talk all day long about gender parity in the workplace or whatever, but that's a big problem. Yes. Right. Because what are those guys doing? Exactly. What are they doing all day if they're not working or looking for work? It would be great to think that there are these entrepreneurs.
16:16Some of them maybe. Some of them probably are, but not all. What are they doing? They're gambling. They can't dismiss it. Right. They're looking at porn. They're smoking weed. And again, I'm generalizing wildly here. A lot of them are living with their parents still. Right. And then what does that do? Where are all the knock-on effects of that, right? You start family later. We could go on. Or at all, right? Or what I wanted to ask you about next, which is mental health, right? So you mentioned this. Men are four times more likely to die by suicide than women. Men make up 71 % of drug overdoses.
16:46I actually thought it would be higher than that, but that's still an insane statistic. Something like 200 people die a day of an overdose in this country, which is actually down from nearly 300. We're actually on the – thankfully past the peak of that, which appears to be around 2023. Like, the U.S. has eight federal offices dedicated to women's health. There's not one dedicated to men. Despite, as we just noted, all of these health effects that are worse for men than women, suicide, overdoses. That's really damning. Isn't it? When I tell people that, they look at me like, wait, what? Like, there's eight federal offices for women's health and not a single one for men.
17:25And I've actually gotten a few. Oh, we already have one. It's the CDC. And it's like, no, no, no, no, no. See, that's a way to just dismiss the issues. Boys and men have different health concerns, too. And today, their health is being neglected. And I'm not saying we need eight federal offices of health for men. In my opinion, that almost seems a little excessive. Maybe we can bring it down to four in one. To me, that's balanced enough. That's all we're asking. But there is, in D.C. right now, there's a bill that was introduced to create Office of Men's Health. And I know a lot of people, they'll be like, oh, we don't need more government.
18:04But when we're talking about research, when we're talking about resources for men. This is the stuff that the federal government's actually not at. This is what it's good at. This is what it should be using your taxpayer dollars for. So yes, I believe that we should have an office for men's health. It seems like a no-brainer for somebody like President Trump who has sort of, you know, he has a sort of like, I don't know if it's fair or not, but he has a reputation of being sort of like a guy's guy. I mean, he did, you know, he did very well with men. He's always done very well with men, relatively speaking, at least.
18:32He brought on a lot of young men in his coalition that won in 2024. This doesn't seem to be a priority for him. And I guess the other thing you could say is even if it was, he's also simultaneously doing things like cutting funding for mental health research at the DOE, also at the CDC. He's slashed and burned a lot of federal programs that do fund research like this. So I don't know. What do you make of that? Where is he on all this? Yeah, I mean, it's been kind of a little bit up and down. I was really hoping that with the second term coming in, at least maybe he might do some more for boys and men.
19:09And I mean, I'm not saying that he won't, but he did last year for Men's Health Week. He did put out a pretty, pretty blunt statement saying we care about the health of the men in this country. Oh, I remember that, yeah. And so that was good. Better than nothing. Better than nothing. I have spoken with a few of his advisors and they assure me that young men are one of his top priorities. But I'd like to see more done at that level. I mean one of the – I think at least in terms of like drugs, I think this administration has a very sort of like – their approach to drug overdose is very much sort of like law and order versus harm reduction.
19:50and we could argue back and forth about what is better. But there's, you know, not every person who ODs on an opioid is a criminal. No. Right? In fact, most aren't. A lot of my friends in L.A. Most are just regular people who have, you know, and it's an indictment of this country that we allow men particularly who could in any other regard be a contributing member of society, taxpayer, father, husband, worker, to succumb to something like that. I think it's a real stain on this country. Right. Sorry, there was no question there. I was just short. Well, I agree. I feel like a lot of people, this is one of my things, if people were aware of the statistics, if they were aware that over two times as many men die from overdose, they might be a little bit more willing to be like, hey, should we put more resources or an office of men's health?
20:41But people don't know these statistics. They might even assume it's the other way around, you know. So I think that's why it's so important to have responsible voices out there sharing the information. There's also, with drugs, there's just so much stigma too. It's like, oh, he's a drug. He overdosed on fentanyl. Well, he must have been an addict. It's like, no, well, maybe he was just a regular guy who got hooked on pain pills from a surgery. I had a friend, very successful man in Florida, a pillar of the community, never partied, never did anything like that. One night on, just like that. And it's horrible.
21:15And I mean I do give Trump credit for at least putting more thought and political capital into the fentanyl issue. I don't agree with everything he's doing. But I think that it appears to be more of a priority for him. Although that being said, we did see the decline in overdoses starting under Biden. So it seems like regardless of who's in power, there at least appears to be a little bit more attention on this matter now. Let's talk about the quote-unquote manosphere. which is a term that I really hate. Me too. I don't know if you saw my piece, but the manosphere smear. Yes. I mean, it's just so reductive, right?
21:54It's like I'm a man and I'm hosting a podcast. Like, am I part of the manosphere? I wouldn't consider myself to be at all. But you have this – your most recent subsect piece defends this idea of, you know, male ambition against what you call decades of demonization. And you cite people like Joe Rogan, Andrew Huberman, and others as examples of sort of like these male success stories. But they're framed as sort of like conspiratorial rather than meritocratic, right? What really sparked this idea a few weeks ago was I saw an article about the podcast world and a new podcast. Oh, is this the Wall Street Journal piece?
22:30Yes. Oh, I hated the story. Oh, I'm glad you mentioned this. Okay, go ahead. Sorry. So they were talking about how the male-dominated space in this new podcast with Maria Sharapova. With Sharapova, right? And it's for ambitious women. And they framed it as like this toxic male space of podcasts because they're doing so well. Because most of the top podcasts are men and they're doing well. But the idea that podcasts, the idea of podcasts as like a gender equity issue, it's like podcasting has the least, there's no barriers to entry. Literally not. I literally started off with saying I could start five podcasts in my bedroom right now.
23:08I just need a mic. Right. And maybe one of them will be a success and maybe none of them will. Maybe they all will be. Exactly. It matters. The only thing that matters is the quality of the content, whether you can build an audience. So to frame that as like, well, it's sexist because most people want to listen to the men. It's like, well, what kind of content are they producing? Most of the people listening to them are men. Make more interesting podcasts. And then it also completely downplayed the success of so many women's podcasts today. I look at the statistics or the charts all the time. Amy Poehler is always up at the top.
23:41The caller daddy. I'm not a fan. But those podcasts, what about them? So they're not – their spotlight isn't on them because they want it to, you know, victimhood in some way. Right. Everyone's got to be a victim. But you do have people like Andrew Tate and sort of, you know, these people in the kind of like the incel movement, I guess you would say. Part of the manosphere, not the whole thing by any stretch. And they claim to be advocating for boys and men. But again, some of these guys, particularly Tate, but again others, they're just straight-up misogynists. So I guess my question to you is kind of like what's the line there, right?
24:17So that's the problem because the manosphere is kind of – it's become like a boogeyman word. And it's very broad because people will put Richard Reeves in it, Scott Calloway, to Joe Rogan, all the way to Andrew Tate. There's very little in common among these men, you know. And I remember one time I was calling this out, and somebody replied back to me and said, I love the Manosphere. I found you here. And I was like, well, wait a second. Am I part of this Manosphere, too? I guess by virtue of the stuff you're talking about. I avoid the men's issues, you know? But so it's way too broad. And now it's becoming like the boogeyman.
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24:59And I fear that people will dismiss even like the things I say just because they're like, oh, you're just part of the Manosphere. Yeah, you're just speaking points of this dangerous manosphere now. But on that note, though, I'm not a fan of the extremes of Andrew Tate and all of those people. I actually get in fights with them. They don't like me either because they view me as a threat to their – they need kind of just like angry – They want the boys to be – the best thing for a guy like Andrew Tate is for the boys. It is upset boys who need – wants to move somewhere else. But I call them opportunists, if anything.
25:37And this, what we're seeing, like a rise of these influencers and young men who are seeking guidance from them, this is a symptom of the problem. It's not the problem. We need to look at ourselves. We've created a vacuum that these opportunists are filling. And it's because we've mistreated boys and men for decades. We put their issues on the back burner. We laugh at them. We mock them. We tell them masculinity is toxic without helping them become strong boys and men. And then we wonder when they go to people like Tate who are telling them that actually it's women who are terrible. They're the problem.
26:17They're the reason why you're not getting ahead. They're validating these frustrations. And then even with somebody like Tate, he mixes in some positive messages. There's a few things I'll keep tabs. There's a few things he says that I'm like, wow, he's on point right there. about this or that. I wish there could be someone like an Andrew Tate with that level of, you know, following who sticks to just that good stuff, you know, who kind of pushes away because then it's also fueling this like very materialistic, individualistic society that we have today, which I actually hate. And then from there, it gets into this new thing like the looks maxing thing where these guys are like going around hitting themselves with hammers to make their jaws better and like getting leg lengthening surgery.
27:02It's so sad to me. What the heck is going on with that? It's heartbreaking. And when people can laugh it off, like I feel like a lot of these issues, people mock or laugh. But when you see like the rise in eating disorders with young men, like it's rising, but it's much less talked about. They're more likely to die from an eating disorder than women because there's such a stigma. People don't realize it and stuff. Yeah, I never even thought of that. Yeah. Yeah. So your work does get shared by a lot of right wing people, a lot of sort of like Christian nationalist influencers and platforms. Does it concern you that maybe for some people you're being lumped in with some of these less savory characters on the right?
27:41I know that you go out of your way not to be. Not to be. And it's very hard on the Internet, right? Because you can't control what people share. Exactly. That's after almost a decade of doing this now, I realized all I can do is be as clear as possible. and always speak what I believe to be true, always open to evolving my views. But I can't control what people think. And if they end up thinking, oh, well, she's a right-wing nut or whatever, I can't make them think any different. Maybe if they listen to my message enough or tune in enough, they'll realize, oh, that's not the case. That's one of the reasons why I wrote that piece for the LA Times, is because I was reaching liberal women.
28:26I don't want to speak to the choir. I don't want to speak to the people who agree with everything I say. I want to reach the people who don't agree with what I say. I want to change their minds, you know. So venturing out into more center, left-leaning spaces with my writing has been my top priority. I totally agree. When you have an audience or have any sort of platform, all you can do is just try and be true to yourself. Yeah. Right. Otherwise, yeah, if you start taking what people say about you, I mean, this is something I struggle with now that I have one. We can say it as much as we want, but we still get, you know.
28:59No, it's hard. It's tough. We're both favorites. But that's all right. We're not the victims, right? Lisa, I want to quote from the Substack essay we were talking about. Sorry, having your writing quoted to you is always kind of weird, right? But this is a good line. You can do it. It refreshes my memory right now. Well, that's the point here. So this is quoting Lisa. Male ambition is the engine that brought humanity out of the dirt and into modernity. It's a great line. Throughout history, men have been driven to protect, provide and achieve status, often to win the admiration of women and secure their place in the social order.
29:33That drive built cities, invented technologies, crossed oceans and even split the atom with the love, help and support of women, of course, end quote. But there's actually – so the piece goes on to say this. The data on marriage, family formation and happiness shows us relationships based on mutual respect for natural differences tend to be more stable and fulfilling. I would agree with all of that. But I feel I can sort of hear my audience in my head reading – listening to me read that and saying to themselves, well, this woman starts talking about natural differences. That – maybe they translate that as saying like, OK, well, we're getting into sort of like shaky stuff here.
30:10Human nature is determined by – we just talked about this, right, by biology in a big way. I mean not to say that it isn't also determined by social and cultural and environmental cues. Obviously, it's a mixture of both. But this line of thinking – again, I'm making the argument that I can hear an audience member make. I can hear them too. Okay, good. I can hear them too. This line of thinking has a habit of supporting like gender stereotypes, right, and maybe even discrimination in the sense of like the strict gender binary that we were just talking about. Look, women belong at home, supporting their husbands.
30:41Husbands belong out in the fields or whatever, in the office. They're bringing in the bacon. The women are there to love and support them. What do you say to that? So that's one of my speaking points I've been accelerating lately, dabbing more into women's issues again. Something that I speak on a lot is that the past few decades of pop feminism, I feel like it's actually been almost a little bit of a form of misogyny. because in the eyes of female empowerment, we're actually telling girls and women that their womanhood, their motherhood, their natural, general, generalized, more natural traits are bad and they'll be more valued if they were more like traditional men.
31:35This is sort of the girl boss phenomenon that I call. Yeah, and don't get me wrong, I'm a professional woman. A lot of my friends are professional women. But this way of saying, oh, to value women, we need to downplay womanhood, downplay motherhood and tell them to be more like men. To me, that's misogyny. Maybe the clearest form of misogyny ever. To have value, you have to be more like a traditional man. So I feel like over the last few decades, in almost like a desire to reach an economic parity or something like that, we've actually put womanhood down and woman down. And I believe that with gender equality, it's all about valuing the sexes equally, not pretending they're the same.
32:19And when we pretend they're the same, that's what fuels the gender wars. It fuels the crisis facing boys and men today because all of a sudden we really become competitors. And then we see all the resources and the attention and the compassion shifting towards girls and women. And we're seeing the consequences of that pitting against each other. So to me, I know it can sound conservative-leaning, but in my opinion, I'm a true feminist because I'm saying that we need to value girls and women. There are differences, right. Yeah, and it's okay. We can promote. You can do whatever you want. I'm all for freedom.
32:57I'm all for women becoming CEOs, choosing their own paths in life. But we don't have to tell them. They have to be more like men. We should be telling them that they're powerful and strong and capable because they're women. I mean, I just the line of bullshit to me that always kind of annoyed me was this like you can have it all kind of thing. It's like, well, nobody can have any. I have it all. That's not I mean, women can't. Men can't. Let's just not have the world works. Right. But this and what ends up happening here is and again, I'm going to be very careful here. I'm a man. Right. Take what I don't know anything.
33:33Right. Other than my own experience. But you can draw a direct line from what you said just now to the declining fertility rate in this country, not just in this country, around the world. Around the world. Right. Especially in the West. Because many women are – young women are putting off motherhood and marriage to do what people like Sheryl Sandberg have been telling them, which is go for the career. Go for the C-suite. Do it first. Put everything else to the side. And then what ends up happening? well, you reach maybe, I mean, again, this is being generalizing here, but you reach a place, maybe you're in your mid-30s or your 40s, and well, all of a sudden you just got laid off, because guess what?
34:13Your company actually doesn't give a shit about you. They don't love you. Right? They don't love you. They don't love you the way your children would, the way that the children that you put off having would. They won't be there for you the way that your husband or wife or those kids will be. So again, I just think it's all connected. It is. And so there's been a big, hot debate right now. I don't know if you've been following it about Girlboss because... Tell me. Okay. So it kind of started a few months ago. There's a Helen Andrews piece. Oh, yeah. She's great. Oh, yeah. I do remember that. So it kind of started there.
34:46But then about a month ago, Institute for Family Studies, who I write with, they kind of came out with a collection of essays on kind of like get married young with different people talking about why we should maybe encourage, you know, not to delay family till your 40s, you know. And I was one of the writers sharing my story in a piece. And it sparked a lot of controversy. Just a lot of people on the other side were saying that they're blaming girl bosses for the low fertility rate when they're actually having babies and this and that. And I had to clarify what I was saying. I can only speak for myself.
35:26But I'm not targeting the girl boss women. Technically, I am a professional woman. I don't have a family. I'm in my 30s. I'm almost, I'm kind of the result of girl boss, anti-motherhood, anti-men messaging. So I'm saying, look, like I have friends. I have seven close friends. Only two of us have children. We're in our late 30s. Oh, I see it among my own. And we're the generation, so we're like kind of midway millennials. So we grew up in the 90s in elementary school with girl power messaging. Then we shifted into the girl boss messaging of like the 2010s, like that era. And so out of us seven close friends, only two have children.
36:12And we're all talking now. We are the kind of results of that. It feels like something's shifting. Something's shifting because there's a lot of us who are just kind of questioning our choices. I mean, me and myself, I see full clear I take responsibility for every choice I've made. But we're starting to be like, hmm, what did this messaging do? You know, like talking about motherhood as a burden and things like that. It's out there. And even one of my older friends, she's a little bit older than us. she went in to get her eggs frozen at 42 and they basically laughed her out of the clinic they were like sweetheart you should have done this years ago i've heard similar stories it's heartbreaking she was crying in the parking lot but she believed like oh well maybe if i freeze my eggs now and there's just a article last week in british vogue saying waiting till 49 to have a child was the most self-aware decision i ever made i'm like why are they putting out these messages there's a thing called biology.
37:13And maybe you can cheat it if you're a billionaire. Exactly. If you have the money resources. But even I'm saying in these pieces now, like it's not even something I actively chase these days because there are so many risks. I actually wrote an article for Evie on the risks to the mother and the child. Oh, of course. Of having a child later into your 40s and stuff. So I find it very irresponsible for us to be, and for what? Economic parity? Is that what it is? No, it's for, what is it actually for? It's for corporations and shareholders, right? I mean, they want as many people, you know, smart young people in the workforce as possible.
37:53And especially women, because the only job sectors that are growing are female-dominated job sectors. Exactly, nursing, teaching. So they don't want you having babies and dropping out of the workforce for a few years. They need more women in the workforce because that's the way our economy is moving. Exactly. Right. The economy has to keep growing. How are you going to keep growing and feed more people into the system? And then the music stops during a recession or during some, you know, an AI apocalypse. And all of a sudden, yeah, you're out on the street with no no job and hopefully no, you know, no families in some cases.
38:23Exactly. I feel like I think it was Forbes. They said like 50 percent of women are going to be single like in a couple of years, like not having families. And the research shows that once you hit 30, your likelihood of having a child drops like to 50 percent. You know, and women don't know that. They're like, oh, I'm going to wait until my career and then wait, wait, wait. Until my career gets here or here or here. Right. And that's why I've been sharing my story because I'm like, you can choose what you want to do in life. I'm not telling you to be barefoot pregnant in the kitchen. That is not what I'm saying.
39:02But if that's a goal in young women's lives, don't put it off forever. Keep love as a priority. You know, like it's not all about, you know, self-status stuff. If that's – don't listen to the world right now because you might wait too long. And the world wants something from you that you might not want for yourself, right? And it's true that that is just not instilled in us when we – I mean, especially our generation growing up. I didn't hear any of that. And I would actually argue it's not even – this is not just a – I mean it is in some ways a gender thing obviously. But it's also – like I think about this in terms of parenthood, right?
39:36Like when you're a guy and you're in your sort of like 20s or 30s, the idea of having kids is always framed to you as like, oh, yeah, you're going to have to settle down. No more hanging around, chasing girls, and you're going to have to change dirty diapers and all of the bad stuff. It always gets front-loaded, all the bad stuff. It's going to ruin your social life. It's going to make it harder for you to succeed at work. but it's never the good stuff nobody ever says to you you don't understand what it's going to be like to have a little kid and have that child attached to you like you're like it like it's a part of you right and you know i'm just my daughter's old enough now where like i'm getting her into the music that i liked growing up and like to me like there is no better feeling than seeing her respond to like a song that i grew up with like but like that is never told to young boys.
40:25Or to hear them repeat what you say. Right. And you look and be like, oh my God, I'm shaping this little person. And it's never in the conversation. The conversation is always, no, you need to go out there, you need to get paid, you need to take out huge loans to get this education that's going to get you to X, Y, Z. The good thing, I guess I'm saying, is that it does seem like the conversation is starting to change around these things. And unfortunately, I think the reason why it's changing a little bit is because there's been a lot of people who are realizing, wow, I waited too late. Yeah, I was sold a bad bill of goods here.
41:00And again, I'm not pushing some sort of victimhood mentality, but I always say, if you want to talk about victims, what about the millions of women right now and men, too, who realize they can't have children anymore? They waited too long, and now they're like, oh, well, I didn't think this one through, you know? And people can say, oh, the messaging. No, messaging works. Messaging and narratives and what is pumped into us since we're in elementary school definitely instills the beliefs in us. How could it not? I get a lot of people, the messaging, who cares? We're bombarded with it all day. It's like propaganda all day.
41:38Put off this self-status stuff. You want to break those glass ceilings, that'll give you value. you know? I got it ever since I was a kid. No, I mean, again, even not to the degree that women of my cohort did, but even as a man, it was always, right, status, money, right, materialism. And, you know, thankfully, I was able to, you know, find my way to having a family, which is the thing that gives me pleasure more than any, you know. Anyway, I want to do, before we let you go, I want to talk, we could talk about this all day. I know, I could go on about this for days. I think the passion, though, is what keeps you going.
42:16How could you not have passion over this? I mean, this is everything. This is everything. Yeah, and it affects everybody. Every aspect of our society is affected by this. And obviously, there's a big political angle to this. I mean, you've talked about it. You've met with lawmakers, right? You've called for some of the things you've called for, an education system that nurtures all students, a mental health system with effective care for men, a health care system that sort of recognizes the unique need of boys. And what we were just talking about, a culture shift away from these sort of like shaming and victimhood narratives.
42:48Is there a specific legislative ask? Like if you were in front of Congress today or if Trump invited you into the Oval and said, Lisa, what's one thing that I can do? What would it be? Would it be like a federal office of men's health or Title IX parity? There's two. And actually, there's two bills right now in Congress on both of these issues. There's one to create a council for fathers and sons. It'll be a federal interagency council. So I have been part of a group for a decade trying to get this done. It was a council for boys and men. But then the council for girls and women disappeared. Then it turned into a gender policy council under Biden that disappeared again.
43:32But so there's a bill introduced. And we want a council for fathers and sons. and it'll kind of expand to mental health issues, education disparities, and trying to build up our boys and men to become great fathers, which is what we really need today. So that was introduced. Who would be on that? Would it be like famous? Who would sit on a council like that? So it'll be interagency. So each agency. I see. Yeah, so people from like Anishina Sanibur. I see. Everybody would kind of meet on, okay, what are we doing? And it's designed as well. What are we doing at DLU? What are we doing at HHS? Exactly.
44:10How can we work together to address fathers and men's health so that it can do this and that? So it'll be good, too, because it won't be doubling up, you know, not expanding and nobody likes more spending. I was going to say, yeah. So it's very concise to what it wants to do. And then there's also the bill I mentioned, I think I mentioned it earlier, about creating an office for men's health. Yeah. So those are the two things. I think we could get done. We could really just, even the gesture of doing those things will make boys and men feel like they matter, you know? I think that alone could move mountains if boys and men felt like they mattered, you know?
44:53It seems sort of absurd to be like, oh, men need more representation in politics or something, but in some ways we kind of do. Well, yeah, who's going to speak out for you, you know? And I think that's why it's so important. Thankfully, it's becoming more acceptable for men to talk about, for you to talk about it. But for many years, right up until recently, no. As soon as a man started talking about boys and men, dismissed as misogynist. I think we would not be able to do this podcast even a year or two ago. No. That's why that was one of the reasons why I always put myself out there to say something.
45:31because when a woman starts saying it, especially one who, like, I'm not a combative person. I try to be as, like, respectful to people, even my haters, you know. But when a woman's out there saying these things, it's much harder to dismiss her as just a misogynist. I am dismissed sometimes as misogynist, but it's much more difficult. So I'm so grateful now. There's been a lot of women over the years speaking out, too, helping support the very brave men who have stood out and written books and everything like that. But now I've really noticed over the last couple of years, we have Scott Galloway and Richard Reeves and these people out there on mainstream, left-leaning shows talking about it.
46:18So I think we're on a good trajectory, but there's always blowback too. I see you as a new age Camille Paglia. I hope that's a compliment. That is probably the biggest compliment anybody's ever given me. OK. Well, in that case, no, she's a great writer. So thank you very much. But that's the goal, being emotionally mature about everything, you know? And I agree with a lot of what she said. Yeah. Thank you. OK. Well, happily. While I have you, I do want to ask you about this. There's sort of this conventional wisdom out there that young men have gotten a lot more conservative over the last 10 years, but really since the era of Trump and especially since the last election.
47:00But I want to bring this chart up, which we have here and we'll show on the screen. This is from Gallup earlier this year. The partisan gap between young men and women almost doubled in the last 25 years. But what's interesting about this is men aren't changing that much. Men have stayed similar...if you look at this chart, it's basically showing you that men have stayed similarly conservative since the turn of the century. Women, on the other hand, have become much more liberal. 23-point gap now in gender ideology compared to 12 points in 1999. When you look at that, what do you see? So what I see, and the first thing, of course, coming through my perspective of advocating for boys and men, they've taken a narrative since the election, basically saying young men are becoming more right-wing, they're moving that way, almost creating a hysteria, like a panic over young men rushing towards the right.
47:59And when you look at that chart, you realize, hmm, it doesn't look that way. They've stayed pretty consistent. Even in the 2000s, there was more people, more young men who were on the right. And what's a little alarming is why aren't we talking about this extreme of women moving to the extremes of the left, you know? And so when we're talking about the divide between the genders, I feel like there's been a lot of blaming and shaming of men, and it's been used as a speaking point to kind of double down on this is the problem, the manosphere is the problem, when the real push has been for young women going to the extremes of the left.
48:41And more and more people are talking about that today. I wrote an article last week about kind of going back to my own story about the victimhood and everything my earlier years. But we're creating angry young women. And if we don't start talking about it and saying, whoa, whoa, young men have been pretty consistent. What's going on over here? Then we're not going to get to the real issue of this divide, this growing divide between young men and women. And so I think the data is important. Charts like that are important to share, to show people, okay, we might be looking over there, but we're actually supposed to be looking over there.
49:21So again, the first time I looked at this chart, I was like, okay, well, this is probably just a reflection of Trump, right? I mean, Trump's sort of like a world-class misogynist. Women have never really liked him at scale. So you can see how he sort of like shifts the thing. But when you actually look at this, it precedes Trump. It predates Trump. This line really starts to move up in the mid-aughts. You start to see it around 2006, 2007, and then it starts to accelerate in the 2010s. So my theory, if you're interested. I am. It's not that interesting, the theory. It is the theory that I have for everything, which is that it's the phones.
49:59It's the phones and social media. They are the original sin. But they are the almost all so many of our societal problems can be boiled back down to putting the entire world in in your pocket and controlled by these algorithms that are created to make you pissed off and to make you angry. Right. And again, I'm going to get in trouble for saying this, but, you know, I think that, you know, and again, this goes beyond men and women. But I think that men and women respond to these things in different ways. And I think that women tend to be more emotional. I don't think that that's particularly controversial.
50:35These algorithms prey on their emotions. They prey on their self-esteem, right? You talked about men's eating disorders. There's a huge, huge crisis among teen girls. Oh, yeah. Right? Social media, John Hite. John Hite's been all about this. Yeah. Great coverage of all that. And I also think, too, that could spark that divide is that there's a lot of rhetoric that if the role, genders were reversed in it, you would say that's the most misogynistic thing I've ever heard. But when it's women saying it about men, it's ha, ha, ha, ha. Yeah. So I think we have a leniency on misandry being spread online where it's like, oh, it's so normalized.
51:15It doesn't even matter. And then we all know misogyny when we see it kind of thing. So I think that could also fuel that divide of almost like hating men and moving to more of that progressive thing. Right. Well, I think it's just like, again, these algorithms, they get us in different ways, right? So they get men through sort of like the dopamine scroll and then, again, through gambling or through porn or these different sports betting, these prediction markets being the new thing. But for women, it's like I think women are swayed more by consensus pressure, right? They see what others are. And again, it's a big generalization.
51:54I should just say that at the top. This is a big generalization. Just put it on the bottom. Put it on the bottom. But I think women are generally – they're more swayed by consensus pressure. That's why you see – when you see these sort of social media pylons, it's often women, right? And again, I think men have more of a sort of tolerance for conflict. They have a bigger tolerance for disagreement even. So I think that the way that social media works is less – it's less impactful on men than it is on women. Am I making any sense? I don't know if you've seen, there was a chart that was going around last week, similar to this one, that showed that women treat their political adversaries poorly.
52:41And then men treat them, they treat their political adversaries better than women treat their political allies. So you got to see this chart. I mean, you have to send that to me because that honestly jives so much with what I, the emails that I get. From the newsletter that we write in the podcast. And again, I love all my audience. I love even the people who are mean. It is almost the people who are the meanest are the women. Yes. I've experienced the same thing. And when you look at the story, literally, men treat their political adversaries better than women treat their allies. Like, what are we doing, ladies?
53:21It's astounding. And, yeah, again, like I'll get back and forth with some hardcore MAGA guys that read the newsletter and love to like, you know, love to rip it with me. And they call me names sometimes. But it's rarely personal in the way that some women are. And, again, I'm generalizing here. But I do think it's notable. It's something that nobody really talks about. Lisa, before I let you go, you've described yourself as nonpartisan, which I think is fair. Your work does run in Evie Magazine, which is a publication that, first of all, you should check it out if you haven't. They're doing really interesting work in the magazine space.
53:57It's really beautifully put together. It's beautiful. We're trying to bring the feminine back. It's sort of like a new wave of women's magazines. So you should check it out. But it does have a sort of like traditionalist, socially conservative editorial bent. Not that there's anything wrong with that. But my question is, you know, if there's people listening who might come from a more traditionally feminist background and they might be saying to themselves, look, this woman is just trying to roll back everything that we fought for through, you know, the various waves of feminism, rolling back all the way to the 60s.
54:29I'm sure you've heard that before. What do you say? I say that's not what we're saying. And usually people, it's hard to get people to see what you're trying to say and not taking it personally, going through their personal perspectives and their own, you know, glasses that they're wearing. But what we're trying to bring back is a love for being women. It's okay to be feminine. It's okay to be beautiful and to see beauty in things. And we even have been moving like even less political, moving into a space where we can just thrive and love women. And we defend, we really stand up for choice, you know, which I believe, again, is what feminism was supposed to be about.
55:19So I just wrote a piece the other day where we're all writers. We're looking for ambitious young women writing in the magazine. We're not against women. working but we want to celebrate everything it is to be a woman and and um kind of get our priorities right you know like i feel like everybody in in the the world today kind of doesn't have their priorities right so we're bringing back a very feminine and respecting yourself you know these shouldn't be controversial topics you know like the latest issue was a very controversial issue which one because the latest print issue that just came out it's the sex issue and Evie has been framed as like the conservative Cosmo which is kind of funny even to say you know but it's kind of a little bit of a more risque print issue for it's for wives and committed women with their husbands and it's caused a little bit of a stir there's I think the Daily Mail called it taboo if the Daily Mail is calling you taboo that's good that reflects well on you the founder of Britney she wrote I don't know how being intimate with your husband is taboo Is that where we are now?
56:29Is that where we are now? That's what's taboo. But yeah, it's just I recommend, I mean, to be honest, I've been reached out by some feminists, influential feminists in the space, and they're keeping tabs on what we're talking about, especially when it comes to boys and men. Don't get me wrong, not all feminists out there are against helping boys and men. There's a lot. I think most probably are. It's just not prioritized. Yeah, like Melinda Gates. stepped up and invested some money in it, which I called for. I didn't know that. She invested in Evie? No, she invested in boys and men's issues. Oh, I see.
57:04Cool. Which is funny because like eight years ago, I wrote a public letter and I put it out there online calling on her to start investing in boys and men's issues. Probably just went out into the void, you know. But then to see like eight years later, she did make an investment in boys and men's issues. So she's seeing it. You know, everybody's opening up more and more. And when you say somebody like Melinda Gates, who, in my opinion, is like the queen of feminists, you know, of that like strong girl power feminist. When you see even her investing in these causes, then you realize, OK, I think the people on the left who might be rolling their eyes at me right now can be like, oh, well, if Melinda Gates thinks it's an issue, maybe I should think it's an issue, too, you know.
57:52No, it's important. Big names like that on board is important. Well, Evie Magazine, you guys should check it out. Again, even if you don't agree with it, it's just very well done. The journalism is very good. The graphics are really good. So check it out, eviemagazine.com, right? You'll find Lisa's writing there as well as on her substack. You can just go to, is it lisabritten.substack? Yes. We'll put the links in the description, of course. Lisa, I think you're doing really important work. Thank you. And I really appreciate you coming on. Thank you so much. So much. It was really nice to talk to you.
58:22Love to come back from time. Of course, yeah. We'll bring you back. Can I talk about this for probably a week straight? I think maybe we'll do another man week here. Yeah, that'll be fun. And we'll have Lisa on, who will be less controversial than Son Fiker. Okay, Lisa, thank you so much. Guys, we'll see you back here in a couple days.
From the publisher
Are the dudes in crisis? Writer Lisa Britton joins Carlo to talk the "demonization" of today's men.
Lisa Britton's Substack: https://lisabritton.substack.com/
Evie Magazine: https://www.eviemagazine.com/
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