Opinion: Why So Many Young Men Are Turning Conservative

Record numbers of young males have been shifting to the right, leaving the left scratching their heads wondering where they went wrong.

(PLGNN) - The Democrats are spending $20 million to investigate where they went wrong with men during the 2024 election and how to better talk to their male voters. In recent years, record numbers of men have moved to agree more with conservative ideals, leading the left wondering what happened. Truthfully, it isn't that hard to figure out where the left went wrong.

First, a brief introduction: My name is Phineas Glover. I'm a 16-year-old high school student with an interest in politics and business, leading me to have founded the news company PLGNN. I've interacted with hundreds of people with all sorts of political views, and given my knowledge from studying politics and running PLGNN, I think that I may know the answer to why young men are leaning towards the right.

Promotion of Misandry and Hateful Rhetoric

The left has done a terrible job at making men feel welcome. The #KillAllMen movement was a perfect example of the alienation that men began to face in recent years. While the movement wasn't supposed to be serious in practice, it was still a call of violence towards a particular group of people. If you were to substitute in any other group of individuals, such as #KillAllWomen, #KillAllJews, or #KillAllBlacks, you would be met with backlash of people calling it sexist, antisemitic, racist, etc. However, with men, people often just ignore insults hurled at them, as people think men deserve it, having been the oppressors for such a long time.

The claims of men having been oppressors do have truth to them. Historically, women have been put down, beaten, raped, and killed by men. Women struggled for a very long time to achieve legal and social equality to men. The things that women had to experience were truly unspeakable, and horrors that we shouldn't soon forget. However, history is not the present. Now, at one of the first points in history, men and women are truly equal, at least from a legal standpoint (in the United States).

Women still face sexism. That is an undeniable fact. However, we shouldn't let that take away from the fact that men can face sexism as well. Treating somebody unfairly based on their gender is wrong; however, in this article, we are going to primarily be focusing on the unfair treatment of men. Misogyny is a term that everyone is familiar with, it being defined as the hatred, dislike, or mistrust of women (per Dictionary.com). However, not everyone is familiar with the term misandry, which is defined as hatred, dislike, or mistrust of men (per Dictionary.com). There is a belief going around that women cannot be sexist, or that men cannot experience sexism. But as we can see from the #KillAllMen movement, this is a clear form of discrimination and sexism aimed at men.

Before we can dive into the alienation caused by the #KillAllMen movement, we must first discuss feminism. Feminism is defined by Oxford Languages as the advocacy of women's rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes. This is inherently a good thing. Women and men should have equal rights. That is an indisputable fact. However, equal rights between men and women have been achieved in the United States. So is the feminism movement still needed? The answer is tricky. Imagine a car on a highway accelerating at 80 mph. Now imagine a second car starting after the first car and accelerating on the gas until it hits 80 mph. Now, both cars are going at equal speed and in a state of equilibrium. But if the driver removes their foot from the gas pedal of the second car, the cars will no longer be going at an equal speed, and the second car will fall behind. However, if the second driver continues accelerating, then the second car will pass the first car, leaving them again unequal. Simply put, if feminism continues accelerating, it would put itself ahead of men, but if it slows down, it would put itself behind. This leaves a small area of equilibrium that the feminist movement needs to maintain in order to create perfect equality.

Now, feminists are being confused with misandrists. An important factor about misandrists is that most of them won't admit they are misandrists and will instead claim to be feminists. However, there's a key difference: feminists want equality, and misandrists want female control. Many men will not consider themselves to be feminists because of the stigma of the statement caused by misandrists. Objectively, everyone should be a feminist because the belief that women and men should be equal is important. Going back to the highway example, misandry is what happens when the second car (the feminist movement) continues accelerating.

It wasn't feminism that created the #KillAllMen movement, but misandry. If, right now, you were to walk out onto the street and ask random women whether they want to kill all men, they would most likely all say no. This is where the left went wrong. They should have shut down the movement right away and not encouraged it. But, by allowing it to remain—even if only as a joke—it was the first step in alienating millions of young men. Is this partially the fault of poor media literacy? Yes; however, the fact that the left and the Democratic Party didn't attempt to distance itself from these movements, and even allowed key figures to use these hashtags, resulted in men feeling like second-class citizens within their own political party.

A recent key example of alienation towards men was the "Man or Bear" question. This is a hypothetical scenario where a woman is teleported into the middle of a forest, completely alone, and has to choose whether she wants to be in the forest with a bear or with a man. This question is an embarrassing mischaracterization of the feminist movement. Truthfully, the bear is the right answer here. According to Bear.org, the 750,000 black bears of North America kill less than one person per year on average, while men ages 18–24 are 167 times more likely to kill someone than a black bear. So it's safer to choose the bear, right?

Here's the thing: it doesn't matter. Statistically, the average bear and the average man aren't out to get you. The question was introduced purely to incite rage and disagreement between misogynists and misandrists, and is a question that only unintelligent individuals find remotely appealing. The "Man or Bear" scenario was just another way to make men feel bad about themselves for something that a very, very small group of individuals have a chance at doing. It's a harmful scenario designed to put a group of people down. Once again, imagine if we substituted in race or religion. Would you rather be alone in the woods with a white man or a black man? Would you rather be alone in the woods with a Buddhist or a Muslim? Characterizing a group of people based on the likelihood of a small group to violence is completely unfair and does nothing to address underlying issues.

Next, a popular statement is "Not all men, but always a man," which has led to the #AlwaysAMan hashtag. It's saying that when something bad happens, often sexual assault or rape, it's always a man who does it, while noting that it's not all men. This is an incredibly stupid and pointless statement. The world isn't demographically perfect—certain groups are more likely to do or not do something. For example, Asian people earn the highest amounts of money, 74% of zookeepers are white, and 53% of NFL players are black. Unfortunately, that also means that the world is uneven when it comes to more negative things. The statement "Not all men, but always a man" is dangerous, and if any other group of people was substituted in, it would be considered offensive. Imagine an Islamic terrorist attack happens, and thousands of social media users comment "Not all Muslims, but always a Muslim." This is essentially what men are going through. Yes, men are more likely to sexually assault women than vice versa. But constantly making men feel bad for existing is not the way to address this.

The constant blame of men for all the problems faced by women sets a dangerous precedent. Historically, men have been responsible for many of the problems women faced. However, now men are advocating for women at rates we've never seen before, yet hate towards men has increased at record numbers.

The feminist movement is still important and necessary to the proper political functioning of the United States. However, it's also important that the movement avoids misandry and hateful concepts when advocating for its cause.

It should also be made sure that men avoid hateful rhetoric, misogynistic or sexist statements, and sexual references when addressing these issues. While these issues regarding the left's treatment of men are prevalent, the end goal is gender equality, with both men and women being equal. While advocating for men's rights should be promoted, the continuation of activism for women's rights is highly necessary and should also be continued.

Lack of Role Models and Masculinity 

The left doesn't have good role models for men. The right is diverse with their advocates and commentators, with individuals who have different races, genders, and sexualities all campaigning for the right.

The rise of Andrew Tate and his brother, Tristan Tate, was a rise that shocked the world, terrified women, and caused parents to panic about what they were allowing their kids to watch. Andrew Tate was an extremist, but he was appealing through masterful manipulation. He displayed a lifestyle of luxury that every young man craved, with beautiful women, fast cars, expensive watches, and stacks of cash. Perhaps the most appealing, however, was his promotion of masculinity.

Most men want to be masculine. This isn't a bad thing in any way. Most women want to be feminine. Of course, it's also okay if you're a man and want to be feminine, or you're a woman and want to be masculine. However, people have confused masculinity and misogyny to be one and the same. This has resulted in many people being written off as sexist or misogynists for simply wanting to be masculine.

When Andrew Tate came into the picture in 2021, he was telling young men that it was okay to be masculine, and overall, that it was okay to be a man. Men had felt alienated by movements of the left for so long that they ended up looking for validation in guru figures such as Andrew Tate. Tate told men that they could get in good shape, they could make the money, they could start families, and have kids, and that there was nothing wrong with that. He was able to build his platform off of telling men that everything would be okay.

Men's mental health has been in decline for years now. Over six million men experience depression every year. There is such a focus on women and their mental health and wellbeing, particularly through feminism, that it has led men to become overlooked.

Andrew Tate's rise sparked a determination for men to better themselves because it seemed like someone was finally looking out for them. Tate isn't an inherently bad man, but he's certainly a dangerous one. This promotion of masculinity and loyal men to his cause can cause him to influence the world in whatever way he wants. Tate's personality is extreme, and when he believes in something, he treats it like it's the only correct answer. Here's the thing: Tate's personality isn't 100% authentic. Much of the things he says and how he says it is to get views on social media and promote his own companies. There's a problem with this though, which is how people interpret what he says. The more extreme things he was saying aren't things he actually believes and/or promotes. However, people think he does. This leads the people who dislike him to bring up untrue and unfair points to bring him down. On its own, this doesn't mean anything. But if his haters think he means one thing, what do his believers think he means? Some of his believers think that he means those extreme ideas, leading his supporters to become extremists.

Tate built himself a platform from being an excellent manipulator and presented himself as an almost father-like figure to the young generation of men.

However, Tate's hold on young men collapsed in December of 2022 when he was arrested in Romania on charges relating to sex trafficking. While some of his supporters remained loyal, his influential grip on social media and appeal to young men was destroyed by the allegations, which are currently being disputed in various courts across Romania, the UK, and the US.

The left had many opportunities to put an influential male figure at the forefront of political discussion. Unfortunately, they ended up focusing on calling the masculinity aspect of the Tate culture misogynistic, further alienating their male audience. There were many problems with the ideas Tate was promoting, but somehow, the left always chose the wrong ones to focus on.

Tate's rise also led to the creation of the manosphere and redpill culture. The term "manosphere" refers to a loose network of online communities, including websites, blogs, forums, and social media channels, that are centered around discussions of masculinity, gender roles, and relationships. Redpill culture refers to the 1999 movie The Matrix. The movie centers around a dystopian future where artificial intelligence has taken over and trapped humanity in a simulation. In the simulation, the main character, Neo, is offered two pills: a blue pill, which allows him to go back to his normal life, blissfully ignorant of living in a simulation, or a red pill, which allows Neo to see the world for what it truly is, and escape the simulation and eventually destroy it.

Redpill ideology is extremely dangerous and very bad. Often, the redpill culture shares the ideas of anti-feminism, misogyny, and male supremacy. The redpill movement often confuses feminism and misandry, and regularly blames feminists for the promotion of the ideas of misandry. Of course, redpill ideology also heavily promotes masculinity and uses the guise of masculinity to promote radical misogyny. Therefore, the redpill movement is often grouped in with right-wing extremism.

Ironically, the whole red pill or blue pill concept was introduced by two trans women. The Matrix franchise was created and directed by Lana and Lilly Wachowski (formerly known as Larry and Andy Wachowski). They were both co-writers and co-directors of the first three films in the series.

The redpill ideology is perhaps best known for its terrible media literacy and interpretation of popular films. The movement idolizes fictional characters such as Patrick Bateman (American Psycho), Tyler Durden (Fight Club), and Homelander (The Boys). Now, what do all three of these characters have in common? They're all terrible people. The only thing that's appealing about them is that they display masculinity and are somewhat cool. However, the entire point of each of these characters is that they are bad people and lessons of the dangers of toxic masculinity.

The redpill ideology is what often leads to male extremism. The left is partially to blame for the rise of redpill ideology. Redpill ideology is only appealing to weak men. If the left had been welcoming to these weak men, men wouldn't have decided to seek comfort in such a radical movement.

Masculinity is not inherently bad, but it was treated like masculinity and misogyny were the same thing. Most men want to be masculine, which is not the same as becoming a misogynistic individual. Finally, when Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 United States Presidential Election, the Democrats had to make a decision. Kamala Harris was immediately placed as the Democratic nominee (despite nobody voting for her to attain the nomination), and the Democratic Party quickly realized that they needed to place somebody who appeals to young male voters with her in order to secure the presidency. The Democrats then made the disastrous decision of picking Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to be the nominee for vice president.

Walz isn't a bad guy. He's just not a very traditionally masculine one. The left hailed Walz as a hero, a man who was redefining what masculinity is. This was a major miscalculation. If masculinity is appealing to men, you're not going to appeal to men by changing what masculinity is. For example, most people (except weirdos) like dogs and find dogs appealing. This is because of their loyalty, playfulness, and the love they give humans. If someone were to redefine what it means to be a dog, meaning now dogs would hate humans, give no love, and tend towards violence, people wouldn't find dogs to be nearly as appealing.

Truthfully, Democrats were on the right track. Walz displays a perfect example of a nuclear family, being married with one son and one daughter. He also has a few adorable pets. Most men would agree that this idea of a family is extremely appealing. There was a problem, though, and that is that Walz only met part of the criteria. Throughout the campaign, Walz didn't display strong leadership skills, charisma, or just strength in general. He was nervous. While being in his position is an incredibly nerve-wracking thing, he wasn't appealing to voters because he didn't have the strong characteristics needed to lead the country.

The Democrats encouraged another last-ditch effort to secure male voters and, in arguably their most embarrassing appeal, introduced the "White Dudes for Harris" group. It wasn't a terrible idea, but it was an embarrassing execution, along with a name that was rather on the nose. In July 2024, a fundraiser led by the group, with approximately 190,000 participants, raised more than $4 million for the Harris campaign. Celebrity appearances included Mark Hamill, Josh Gad, Mark Ruffalo, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

During the course of the 2024 election, four young male political commentators and activists were put at the forefront of online political discussion. The left and the Democratic Party hoped that these four men could, once again, redefine masculinity and appeal to a male audience. These commentators were Harry Sisson, Parkergetajob, Chris Mowrey, and Dean Withers.

These men were all in their early 20s and white. However, these individuals weren't able to appeal to the men that the left had lost. Simply put, they seemed weak. For a cause to be appealing to men, there needs to be a strong figure at the forefront of it. That's why Donald Trump and Elon Musk were able to secure the male vote, or how Andrew Tate secured his empire. The four Democrat commentators weren't seen to be traditionally masculine, to be in peak physical shape, or display any of the characteristics of a strong leader. They seemed naïve, whiny, and immature.

The group of commentators also didn't last. Shortly after the 2024 election, Parkergetajob and Dean Withers cut ties with Harry Sisson and Chris Mowrey. Why? It was revealed Harry Sisson was talking to multiple girls at once on Snapchat. This led to Sisson's friends cutting him off and being canceled by the internet. Mowrey, however, stood by Sisson's side. This entire situation was blown out of proportion, though. Sisson was not dating any of these women; he was just talking to, and sexting, these individuals on Snapchat. The fact that he lost his friends and a chunk of his platform due to him being a "player" is part of the reason why the Democrats are failing men. Sisson was failed by his own party simply because he was a "player," which shows that the Democrats don't want to appeal to a straight man, or appeal to any man who is participating in traditionally masculine activities.

On the other hand, the right has several political commentators that can easily become role models to men, such as Charlie Kirk or Matt Walsh. These men once again appeal to the desires of man, displaying strong leadership and debating skills, while being married with kids. Both of these men are also in touch with their religion, but we'll get to religion later. Democrats think that masculinity needs to be redefined, which is leading men to feel alienated as they think that the Democratic Party is trying to change who they are.

Sexual Crimes, Domestic Violence, and False Allegations

One of the most notable reasons that men find themselves unable to support the Democratic Party is because of the lack of help for male victims of sexual assault and domestic abuse, and the destruction of male lives due to false sexual assault allegations.

An estimated 90% of male victims of sexual crimes do not report it to the police. Many fear they won’t be believed, while others fear they will be victim-blamed. Of those who do report, only 1 in 5 cases are referred for prosecution, and 4 out of 5 are dismissed by law enforcement.

Many men who experience sexual crimes worry that if they report the assault, the individual who assaulted them will claim that they were, in fact, the ones who were sexually assaulted.

Domestic violence is also an extremely prevalent issue among men. According to Interact, 43.8% of lesbian women and 61.1% of bisexual women have experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner at some point in their lifetime, as opposed to 35% of heterosexual women. Meanwhile, 26% of gay men and 37.3% of bisexual men have experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime, compared to 29% of heterosexual men (per Interact).

These numbers show that domestic violence is almost just as common for heterosexual men as it is for heterosexual women, yet there is less focus on male victims of domestic abuse. In fact, if you were to incorporate the lesbian women and gay men statistics, an argument could be made that women tend to be more abusive than men in relationships.

The lack of support displayed for men who are victims of sexual crimes or domestic abuse is a major way that men feel failed by the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party displays men as the oppressors, when in fact men are just as likely to be victims of sexual crimes and domestic violence as women.

It should also be noted that women are the primary perpetrators of child abuse.

However, none of this means that there should not be a focus on female victims of sexual crimes or domestic abuse. Both men and women should be taken seriously and receive proper help from the authorities when they are the victims of these crimes. Every man and every woman deserves to feel safe in the United States, and they should be treated and helped equally by their government.

Perhaps one of the most upsetting issues men have had to face in recent years is the prevalence of false sexual assault allegations. Full transparency: there aren't many studies available regarding false sexual assault allegations. This is due to a multitude of reasons, including lack of funding for research, and also the fact that many researchers who publish studies on this topic have their careers and reputations destroyed, pushed by extremist advocates from within the left.

However, recent estimates claim that as many as 10%–50% of sexual assault allegations against men could be fabricated. Truthfully, 50% seems to be an almost impossibly large amount, so for the purpose of this article, we are going to focus on the lower end—the 10%.

Starting off by looking at the actual data, the numbers are hotly contested and outdated. According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, the rate of false reporting for sexual assault is in the range of 2–8%. However, this report is from 2009, when social media wasn’t what it is today. It’s hard to find the exact number of false sexual assault allegations because the only allegations definitively proven false are those where the court rules against them. This doesn’t include sexual assault claims made to friends, made on social media, or allegations where a person is still in jail currently serving their sentence.

False sexual assault allegations ruin careers and lives. After being falsely accused, an individual could lose their friends, their job, be suspended from school, or even be killed. This leads many who are falsely accused of sexual crimes to commit suicide.

Celebrities are often targets of false sexual assault allegations, which can lead to the banning of their social media accounts, loss of contracts or deals, and a permanent stain on their reputation.

There isn’t much focus on false sexual assault allegations. Courts and law enforcement will primarily side with women in cases of sexual assault, and sexual assault cases often have no evidence other than a he-said, she-said discourse.

Even if only 10% of sexual assault allegations are false, that is still far too many. The Democrats have ruined their reputation amongst men by ignoring these false accusations, claiming the numbers are too small to be notable. The United States justice system works on the basis that it is better for a guilty man to walk free than an innocent man be incarcerated, so why are we ruining the lives of so many innocent men?

Negative Views on Religion

In 2023, roughly 67% of the U.S. population identified as Christian, and liberals have the lowest percentage of people identifying as Christian. According to the Pew Research Center Religious Landscape Study, 82% of conservatives identify as Christian, 61% of moderates identify as Christian, and only 37% of liberals identify as Christian. This is because of the hate directed at Christianity by the left.

According to a March 2023 study by CatholicVote, there have been over 300 attacks on Catholic churches since May 2020. The organization began keeping track after the Black Lives Matter, or BLM, riots that were sparked by the death of George Floyd. CatholicVote notes in their study that, "In 2020 and 2021, most of the attacks appear to have been motivated by general anti-Catholic ideology, specifically from Black Lives Matter rhetoric."

The left was responsible for the Black Lives Matter riots, as BLM was a primarily leftist cause that was encouraged by advocates of the left instead of being spoken against.

Hate towards Christians is often ignored, as Christians are considered to be a majority group (at least in the United States). The left has propagated the majority of this hate, and while the actual attacks against Christians are only done by radical leftist extremists, the normal left has done nothing to condemn these horrible atrocities.

2.4% of the United States population is Jewish, according to the Pew Research Center. A larger portion of Jewish individuals tend to lean liberal than conservative, at least until recently. Following the October 7 attacks by Palestinian terror group Hamas against Israel, the left has overwhelmingly shifted its focus to supporting Hamas and Palestine while simultaneously sending hate towards Israel and the Jewish people.

In the months that followed the October 7 surprise attack, the Anti-Defamation League, which is the leading organization combating antisemitism, found that antisemitic incidents had increased by over 200%. Individuals on the left began putting #FreePalestine, watermelons, or Palestinian flags in their social media bios to show support for Hamas and Palestine. The left attempted to distance themselves from Israel, with the Democrat lawmakers voting against pro-Israel resolutions in Congress.

The Anti-Defamation League reported that 75% of Jewish individuals say that it is definitely or probably antisemitic to say that Israel should not exist as a state. It should be noted, however, that this study was done in May of 2021, two years before the October 7 attacks.

Now, leftists all around the country are advocating against Israel and the Jewish people, protesting outside of synagogues, Holocaust memorials, Jewish museums, and universities. In May of 2024, we saw scenes similar to those of Nazi Germany when Jewish students were blocked from entering campuses at colleges all around the country. At Columbia University, protestors set up an encampment on campus grounds and even took a building hostage. At UCLA, a Jewish girl was beaten unconscious by pro-Palestinian protestors. And at Yale, a Jewish student was stabbed in the eye with a Palestinian flag. Instead of condemning these protests, the left supported them, arguing that the individuals participating in these activities had the constitutional right to.

In fact, the vice president pick of Democratic nominee Kamala Harris was chosen specifically to appeal to "antisemitic progressives." Spokesperson for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Mike Berg, told Fox News, "Kamala Harris did not pick Josh Shapiro because antisemitic progressives did not like that he is Jewish. It was Harris' first major decision as the nominee, and she caved to the pro-Hamas contingency within the Democratic Party." (PLGNN).

When such large portions of men around the country identify as either Christian or Jewish, having those groups be discriminated against by the left is causing men to shift to the right.

Conclusion

The Democrats don't need to change that much in order to appeal towards men. They just need to start treating men like they aren't the root cause of all the problems in the country. Democrats need to continue promoting the feminist movement without letting misandry cloud what the movement is truly advocating for, which is the equality of women.

Misandrists are not a large group of people. They are an extremely small, however extremely loud, minority. Feminism and the Democrats aren't to blame in any way for the existence of misandry; however, misandrist sentiments should be quickly shut down by the Democratic party and not promoted.

Rather than shutting down advocates for men’s mental health, the Democratic party should promote it. This will prevent men from falling in with extremist ideologies such as those promoted by influencers like Andrew Tate, or the manosphere or redpill movements. In terms of political figures, Democrats need to put individuals in power who will fight for men and women alike. There is no code-talk, or extra bits needed; they just need to talk to men like the American citizens that men are.

Furthermore, the left needs to make sure that men get the justice they deserve when they become the victims of sexual crimes. The fact that the majority of men who experience sexual crimes do not report it is absolutely heartbreaking, and the Democratic party needs to make sure that they acknowledge the male victims of sexual crimes.

In the future, we also need to make sure that men do not have to face false sexual assault allegations, and that the individuals who share these fake allegations are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Finally, the left needs to embrace religion and stop advocating against Jewish and Christian individuals.

In order to achieve peace within our two-party system and two-sex world, it's important that both parties continue promoting equality between genders and disassociating from dangerous extremist movements. Radical misogyny and misandry have no place in this country, and our political bodies should do everything in their power to remove it in order to fully embrace equality for both genders within their parties.

In the future, I plan to write a sequel opinion article to this one, discussing why it's important for men to be feminists, so make sure to check that article out as well, as it can provide more context on the ideas discussed earlier.