Men who are concerned about maintaining a traditional masculine image may be less likely to express concern about climate change to avoid appearing feminine. Men who feel pressure to prove their manhood may avoid environmentalist attitudes to protect their gender identity.

[u/mvea]

https://www.psypost.org/some-men-may-downplay-climate-change-risks-to-avoid-appearing-feminine/

[u/AutoModerator]

Welcome to r/science! This is a heavily moderated subreddit in order to keep the discussion on science. However, we recognize that many people want to discuss how they feel the research relates to their own personal lives, so to give people a space to do that, personal anecdotes are allowed as responses to this comment. Any anecdotal comments elsewhere in the discussion will be removed and our normal comment rules apply to all other comments.

---

Do you have an academic degree? We can verify your credentials in order to assign user flair indicating your area of expertise. Click here to apply.

---

User: u/mvea
Permalink: https://www.psypost.org/some-men-may-downplay-climate-change-risks-to-avoid-appearing-feminine/

---

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/andrew5500]

Fellas, is it gay to oppose the destruction of our only natural environment?

It boggles my mind that protecting one’s home from destructive forces was somehow twisted into a “feminine” initiative by conservative politics, when protection and self-sacrifice are traditionally masculine traits. If we lived in a sane world it would be the manliest men leading the charge…

[u/MaddPixieRiotGrrl → u/andrew5500]

Teddy Roosevelt, one of the "manliest" presidents we ever had is basically the exact opposite of everything modern conservatism stands for

[u/Garconanokin → u/MaddPixieRiotGrrl]

Modern conservativism doesn’t stand for anything. They try to tear each other down to distract themselves temporarily.

[u/tornait-hashu → u/Garconanokin]

Modern conservatism is performative.

The only thing they stand for is abstract symbology like flags and national anthems.

[u/ClashM → u/tornait-hashu]

Modern conservatism is about restoring/maintaining the aristocracy. Same as original conservatism. The plebeian conservatives are attracted to the movement via emotional appeals that make them angry and afraid of some nebulous others who wish to do them harm and challenge their beliefs. But they're only pawns for the leaders of the movement who seek nothing less that complete societal control.

[u/databoops → u/ClashM]

Modern conservatism is gay
Edit: I shouldn't call things gay cause gay people are awesome. Merry xmas

[u/Tactial_snail → u/databoops]

They are pretty gay tho

[u/keelanstuart → u/Tactial_snail]

Like "crashing the servers at grindr during the RNC"-levels of gay. It's sad that they hate themselves.

[u/Imthemayor → u/Garconanokin]

They bend the knee to capitalism in lieu of standing

[u/Brbi2kCRO → u/Garconanokin]

Conservative “dog eat dog” ideology eats itself. How odd.

[u/Obsessivethot → u/Garconanokin]

They are regressive. They only stand against things.

[u/Luna__Moonkitty → u/MaddPixieRiotGrrl]

It's because he found robber barons and wealth hoarders to be namby-pamby soft boys afraid to get dirt under their fingernails. Why send Pinkertons to fight the underclass when the big monopolies are much bigger game?

[u/fresh-dork → u/MaddPixieRiotGrrl]

the guy who had a boxing ring in the whitehouse and gave us the national parks. whose life reads like an adventure novel. that one?

[u/StaidHatter → u/fresh-dork]

He was also the first American ever to get a brown belt in Judo. He's the kind of person Vladimir Putin pretends to be.

[u/123jjj321 → u/MaddPixieRiotGrrl]

Because they aren't conservative. They are fascists

[u/Grim_Rockwell → u/123jjj321]

All Conservatives are just Fascists in the making...

In post-war Germany, Conservatism was frequently taught as being 'wegbereiter des faschismus', the precursor to fascism.

[u/MichiganMan12 → u/Grim_Rockwell]

Unfortunately with the rise of the AfD it seems like Germany has also forgotten that

[u/NadCat__ → u/123jjj321]

Not every conservative is a facist but every facist is a conservative

[u/plastic_alloys → u/andrew5500]

There was a study many years ago saying it’s more effective to frame climate catastrophe as a national security issue to get conservatives on board. They really are like awkward toddlers that need to be treated with kid gloves

[u/Standard_Lie6608 → u/plastic_alloys]

Gentle parenting techniques supposedly works wonders on conservatives/right wingers. Probably cos of all the extra fear and anxiety they feel

[u/No_Size9475 → u/Standard_Lie6608]

There are studies that have shown that they do in fact have bigger sections of the brain that correlate to fear

[u/Talehon → u/No_Size9475]

I do wonder, is it cause or effect? Do they have bigger sections of the brain correlating to fear/threat analysis BECAUSE they fear everything, or do they become conservatives because of the aforementioned reason?

[u/KuriousKhemicals → u/Talehon]

I wonder about this a lot. Are people biologically predisposed to certain political leanings or is this brain thing just an outcome?

[u/Standard_Lie6608 → u/Talehon]

I wouldn't be surprised if both happen. If some just naturally have the bigger amygdala which leads them to the right wing, and also that people consuming right wing content cause their amygdala to grow

[u/AmputeeHandModel → u/No_Size9475]

Scared of Obama, gays, trans, democrats, girls with nose rings and blue hair.

[u/kahlzun → u/No_Size9475]

So, they have brain swelling?

[u/Boomshank → u/kahlzun]

Let's just go with "damage"

(Sorry, cheap shot)

[u/AmputeeHandModel → u/plastic_alloys]

Ever since the pandemic, I've been saying they're toddlers with oppositional defiance disorder. They just have to do the exact opposite of what they're told by the "Left", scientists, doctors, whoever they see as an oppressive authority figure (But not the GOP or ICE). We just need to treat them like the babies they are. I used to use reverse psychology on my kid (he doesn't have ODD) to get him to do things when he didn't want to. He has to think it's his idea or a challenge or a game. "Pick up your toys." "No!" "Fine, -I- am going to pick up the toys then!!" "No I'm gonna do it!!!". I bet that would have worked during COVID. They didnt want to get vaccinated, but I would bet money that if they announced that supplies were going to be taken away from them to be given to liberal cities then they'd be lined up around the block to get it so someone else couldn't, like a child who won't give up or share toys they aren't even playing with.

[u/MayhemWins25 → u/plastic_alloys]

Only when being pro environmental is profitable will this matter. After all, nothing is manlier than worker exploitation- I mean showing how well you can provide for you and yours.

[u/gregbo24 → u/MayhemWins25]

Masculinity lately feels defined by greed and winning. You’re more manly if you take advantage of people, double if it’s legal and you’re just “playing the game.”

[u/MayhemWins25 → u/gregbo24]

Well emotions are weak and womanly, thus so is caring about other people. Meanwhile under neoliberal capitalist economic theory, it’s only logical that a rational actor would behave first and foremost in his own self interest. When the goal is the individual accumulation of resources, it is irrational to care who you are taking those resources from or the long term consequences that will have on others.

And simply due to science, math, and time, the positive effects of pro-environmental policy will not hit the pocketbooks of those who pay for it presently. So any rational masculine man not blinded by womanly emotions would see environmental protectionism as contrary to his self interested wealth accumulation, and thus contrary to his masculine identity.

I’m not trying to imply that environmental collapse is the sole fault of men, these same social mechanisms also apply to women. Likewise there are feminine coded anti environmentalism which also affects men.

[u/talkslikeaduck → u/MayhemWins25]

You're describing what Vlad Vexler calls hyper-neoliberalism, which is when there are no constraints on the market and it devolves into might-is-right, and strength is all that matters.

[u/drunkenvalley → u/gregbo24]

Only if you're not part of a minority, of course. If you're part of a minority group they call you a criminal for doing it.

[u/Outside-Advice8203 → u/plastic_alloys]

We were tracking climate change as a national security issue in the DoD before recent events stopped that. It is absolutely imperative to understand how climate change will not only affect warfare but will also drive it.

[u/kahlzun → u/Outside-Advice8203]

I think the most important thing is that the fertile farmlands will move without respect for borders, and a lot of people are going to go hungry until we figure out the new paradigm

[u/TheOGRedline → u/plastic_alloys]

It literally IS a national security issue! Climate Change is absolutely something the military is concerned about and studying.

[u/Twisted_Cabbage → u/plastic_alloys]

I remember this, even the DoD and Joint Chiefs were all like..."Hey, this is an actual security issue." Well, before Keggseth.

[u/OnlyTheDead → u/plastic_alloys]

The wild thing is conservatives in power aren’t ignorant to the issue, they just avoid it. Capitalism is very much accounting for of cost in climate change and so are politicians. The president very much understands this, and that why he is talking about taking Greenland because the reality with these folks is that they can destroy the planet and still make money hand over fist. They have no functional restraint on their greed and vices.

[u/EmperorKira → u/plastic_alloys]

Framing works wonders in general, its not just a thing with conservatives, its a very human thing, its why surveys are so sensitive to it

[u/samlet → u/andrew5500]

It’s interesting to me because my Christian dad was very conservative, but growing up he taught us that the Earth was God’s creation and we should take care of it, which stuck with me even after I stopped going to church regularly.

But somehow for much of churchgoing America the message is “it’s good to plunder and wreck the environment for $$$ and you’re a pansy if you think otherwise” which… ok.

[u/NicroHobak → u/samlet]

This is how I like to present it too, actually...I am a hard atheist but will often make the argument that if God had given us Eden, we should be it's steward not it's destroyer.

No idea why this isn't easier to grasp...your dad was trying to actually be good, in stark contrast to modern conservatism.

[u/Active_Ad_7276 → u/NicroHobak]

no idea why this isn’t easier to grasp

Because most of the people who don’t grasp it have outsourced their thinking to whatever billionaire-owned platform benefits from them not understanding reality.

[u/the_snook → u/samlet]

I went to school with a guy who sincerely believed we didn't need to worry about conserving any natural resources because "God would never let us run out".

[u/ascagnel____ → u/the_snook]

Both have theological backing -- stewardship vs. dominion.

[u/Prudent_Cabinet81211 → u/samlet]

Fun fact, this is exactly what the Catholic Church has been  preaching, particularly since Pope Francis. Google "Laudato Si" and give that a read. It's a tragedy that its so hard to spread the message of stewardship of our common home more widely.

[u/WiggityWatchinNews → u/andrew5500]

The manliest men aren't concerned about appearing masculine because they just do that by default. It's the guys who are scared someone will see them as feminine and/or gay that the article is talking about

[u/No_Size9475 → u/WiggityWatchinNews]

Correct. Secure people give no shits what other people think of them or their actions.

[u/bibrexd → u/WiggityWatchinNews]

They all claim being gay is a choice when it just isn’t for many men. I’m just not attracted to other men.

So it’s telling that they think it’s a choice, one they have to make everyday.

[u/DUNDER_KILL → u/bibrexd]

Nobody thinks about gay sex more often than a Republican politician.

[u/Boomshank → u/bibrexd]

Exactly.

As a self proclaimed "manly man" I'm perfectly fine crying in public, telling my bro friends I genuinely love them and I'm rather attracted to the idea of wearing a dress that's tailored to fit a man.

NONE of which impacts my manhood, OR my beard, because I'm secure in my masculinity.

[u/Raangz → u/bibrexd]

We all know being gay isn’t a choiice because if it was there wouldn’t be any straight people.

[u/CuttyDFlambe → u/WiggityWatchinNews]

I have a running theory that professional sports are only as big as they are, because they act as a veil for men who are insecure about their masculinity or deeply closeted.

Sports are gay.

[u/Stranger2Luv → u/CuttyDFlambe]

Man against man body against body

[u/CuttyDFlambe → u/Stranger2Luv]

Men at the very peak of their physical prowess. Sweat churning with their little backless undies. An eternal battle over who ends up at the top and who ends up at the bottom. A brief moment of relief when it's over (oh God, I'm going to win!), followed by a period of recovery, but then they start feeling that hunger for the next round..

My God, it's almost too much to think about.

[u/nagi603 → u/CuttyDFlambe]

Sports are gay.

Also body-building. And the tight leather or latex uniforms far-right loves. It's ridiculous just how deeply closeted gay a lot of it is.

[u/gokogt386 → u/CuttyDFlambe]

Man I don’t even like watching sports but this is definitely one of the most terminally online opinions I’ve read this year.

[u/smokingthis → u/andrew5500]

I am amazed how sensitive we as men actually are. Calling women emotional is a massive projection

[u/Bulletorpedo → u/andrew5500]

The same guys thinks it’s feminine to wear a seat belt while driving or a helmet while cycling. It’s bloody stupid but coherent on some weird level I suppose.

[u/ChilindriPizza → u/Bulletorpedo]

Sadly, where I grew up, if you wore a helmet while biking or skating, you would be mocked and bullied to no end- whether you were male or female.

And some extremists of purity culture do not want women and girls wearing seatbelts properly because it apparently draws too much attention to their chest and makes boys and men "stumble".

[u/CrowTengu → u/ChilindriPizza]

Well, they can be all top-masculinity all they want when they suffer from TBI and debilitating injuries because of their absolute lack of foresight.

[u/lulaf0rtune → u/Bulletorpedo]

The through line seems to be that caring about anything is feminine, whether it's the earth in general, your immediate community or your own health. There's a reason a lot of these guys can't tell their own kids that they love them.

[u/randynumbergenerator → u/Bulletorpedo]

It's a nihilist idea of masculinity, which is exactly what the label "toxic masculinity" originally was intended to highlight before it became twisted into "those college-educated fairies think being masculine is bad!"

[u/Thebluecane → u/andrew5500]

The manliest men are...... its the dudes so insecure that a gay couple kissing near them is going to bother them that don't care

[u/BaullahBaullah87 → u/Thebluecane]

Telling on themselves

[u/A_spiny_meercat → u/Thebluecane]

Who always go to the "forcing it down our throats" line

[u/sotiredwontquit → u/andrew5500]

Toxic masculinity is now fatal to the whole species. How extra.

[u/nagi603 → u/andrew5500]

Fellas, is it gay to oppose the destruction of our only natural environment?

Welcome to 'it's not manly to use your brains instead of being a musclehead and hate science' that has been going on for quite a while.

[u/Few-Coat1297 → u/andrew5500]

I dont know how this particular bit boggles your mind given what has been going on since 2016. Liberalism is lying castrated at the altar of populism. Anti-intellectualism is back on the menu of mainstream right wing politics and fodder for the poor and uneducated. Look at who votes for Orban in Hungary, it is mostly poor people who live rurally.

[u/johndoe201401 → u/andrew5500]

Real man dies a stupid death.

[u/SpitAndGlitter → u/andrew5500]

It’s also not a bad thing for something to be feminine

[u/Chrono-Helix → u/andrew5500]

There’s people who oppose vegetarianism for similarly idiotic reasons

[u/40mm_of_freedom]

I’ve noticed a little bit of a battle with this when it comes to hunters and outdoorsmen.

Many are conservation minded, but don’t want to be seen as environmentalist.

They many dont want to really talk about climate change, but complain about changing weather patterns.

It’s all basically word play. In my professional life I’ve just adopted “evolving climate patterns” and everyone is happy to admit the climate is changing. They don’t want to discuss why it’s happening though.

[u/Meadhead81 → u/40mm_of_freedom]

Everything is always some simplistic defense in bullet point form, that avoids any critical thinking or addressing the complexity of an issue or its some clever smart ass remark to mock a subject.

”The Earths always been heating up though!”

”Global ‘warming’ huh? Strange how we just had a record snow storm”

Same thing with all major issues facing our society IMO

[u/Protoss-Zealot → u/Meadhead81]

Anecdotal, but Florida is odd in my experience. While you definitely have some people who act like you described, a lot of the conservatives I’ve met in the middle of backwoods Florida are very conservationist minded, especially the ones that grew up there.

My theory is that they see the frequency and strength of hurricanes increasing first hand, and with places like the Everglades and Tate’s Hell that have a lot of stagnant water they can see pollution first hand. If you lived in a place like Florida for 40-50 years, it’s kind of difficult to say that the climate isn’t changing.

[u/eye_of_the_sloth → u/40mm_of_freedom]

its 70 degrees in Dec and the fuckin bears arent hibernating. But we gotta waste energy discussing when it will be manly enough to admit that we cooked ourselves out of a planet. 

[u/cloudforested → u/eye_of_the_sloth]

Masculinity so fragile it caused an extinction event.

[u/yearsofgreenandgold → u/cloudforested]

Sure they might suffer from natural disasters caused by climate change but at least they won't look like sissies!

[u/Direlion → u/cloudforested]

Basically the description of the Holocene.

[u/chillinathid → u/40mm_of_freedom]

This fits my general interaction with Republicans. I've been able to convince them in the theory that healthcare and a livable pay are good. But once I start getting into terms they've heard in the media, they immediately change their mind.

[u/DMTraveler33 → u/40mm_of_freedom]

God dude back in 2011 I worked as a cashier at Cabela's for a bit and I always had to ask customers if they wanted to donate their change to wildlife conservation. Many customers always had a lot to say about this and while many get it, it's insane how many of those nitwits didn't understand that they would have nothing left to hunt today if it weren't for those programs.

[u/Unusual-Voice2345 → u/40mm_of_freedom]

Like most major things, it is politicized. People don’t want to talk about it because a lot of money and jobs are on the line one way or the other.

It’s one thing to say, “no more new oil, gas, coal…. Initiatives” and another to say we are actively trying to remove current oil, gas, and coal operations in favor of renewable energy.

Sure, one will create jobs but that also means current families that depend on existing fossil fuel operations will be detrimentally impacted. Some may deal with divorce due to financial hardship, drug abuse from moving and losing key friends that kept them sober… the human impact of disruption is a real thing and if you have close relations with people in the industry, you don’t want to see them suffer.

People often say humans don’t care about the future but I don’t think that’s right. I simply think we are far more concerned with the present because the future is no a certainty (even if it “is”).

Anyways, I talk about climate change as well by using similar words to you.

[u/Double_Dog208 → u/40mm_of_freedom]

We done fucked up

[u/Middle-Preference864]

How are these 2 things even related? Why would admitting that climate change exist make you any less masculine? That's what i'm trying hard to understand.

[u/Crane_1989 → u/Middle-Preference864]

Our society has pretty much genderified everything. Everything is now either a man's thing or a woman's thing, with no in-between, and no overlapping. It's sad, honestly.

[u/keytotheboard → u/Crane_1989]

Sort of. In this case and many like it, I would hypothesis this is more of these people attributing “caring” about something to be “feminine”. As in, it’s not about climate change in particular, it’s merely showing care for something.

[u/raaabert → u/keytotheboard]

It’s less about ‘caring’ and more about avoiding being seen as having ‘fears’ I think

[u/GeneralStrikeFOV → u/Crane_1989]

Conservatives have, anyway.

[u/BarkerBarkhan → u/GeneralStrikeFOV]

Right, that's why politics are so divisive. One side is like "Hierarchy is important! Women are less than! Queer people are less than! Black and brown people are less than!" and the other side is like "no, please leave us alone."

[u/Brbi2kCRO → u/BarkerBarkhan]

Yeah like “gosh can you please stop involving us in your dumb ass precarious masculinity rhetoric”

[u/ScreamSmart → u/GeneralStrikeFOV]

Not according to the study. The results were irrespective of political affiliation.

[u/123jjj321 → u/GeneralStrikeFOV]

Fascists. They are fascists. Time to use correct labels.

[u/Esarus → u/Crane_1989]

It’s not society who first genderified this though, it’s companies. Companies have marketed eating steak as masculine and vegetarian as feminine, a gas car as masculine and a Toyota Prius as feminine. It’s just propaganda. And the masses just gobble it all up.

[u/alrightfornow → u/Middle-Preference864]

You could ask the same thing about eating meat.

[u/ZenMasterOfDisguise → u/alrightfornow]

I am a guy who is a vegetarian (an also an environmentalist) and reading this headline I am positive the people who are too insecure to support climate change action are the same type of people who hear that I am a vegetarian and get weirdly defensive and tell me how much they love meat and could never give up meat in response

[u/Pavotine → u/ZenMasterOfDisguise]

Same here bro. As a long-term vegetarian bloke, I have met hostility from other guys (outside of my circle of good friends), not for talking about vegetarianism or moaning about what other people choose to eat but simply by ordering the vegetarian option.

I've lost count of how many times I've been quizzed about it where they get borderline hostile when I say I don't feel the need to kill animals to sustain myself. Sometimes they ask if I'm alright with them eating steak next to me at the table. Yes, I don't have to eat it so you fill your boots, I don't mind what you eat. It still causes awkwardness and it all usually stems from me choosing a vegetarian dish.

Some meat eaters clearly couldn't care less about eating flesh and farming animals for meat but others do care, repress it to avoid thinking about the reality of it all and get defensive because deep down they have a conflict with their enjoyment of eating dead animals and everything that entails.

[u/randynumbergenerator → u/ZenMasterOfDisguise]

Weird. I thought those bros were all about stoicism and embracing hardship.

[u/MiaowaraShiro → u/ZenMasterOfDisguise]

I am a vegetarian and get weirdly defensive and tell me how much they love meat and could never give up meat in response

It's honestly not all that weird. Your existence as a vegetarian is a moral challenge to them. They don't want to believe they're morally wrong for eating meat so they attack you to damage that moral example that contradicts them.

It's all about avoiding moral cognitive dissonance.

[u/BillNyeForPrez → u/Middle-Preference864]

Because rolling coal in a big diesel truck and eating a steak is “masculine”.

[u/Drafo7 → u/Middle-Preference864]

There's no logic to it. That's the problem we keep making when trying to fight conservatives. They don't operate on logic or facts, so pointing out the flaws or hypocrisy in their arguments doesn't do anything to convince them. And they're inherently selfish, so appealing to their sense of compassion for their fellow humans won't work either. They understand one thing: anger. The key, I think, is to get their anger pointed at the right targets. Getting them outraged at the rich elitist fucks that keep screwing over the rest of us will be difficult, especially with all the propaganda they consume, but I think it's our best shot.

[u/PerplexGG → u/Drafo7]

Don’t forget fear. There is no more fearful group of peope

[u/Drafo7 → u/PerplexGG]

True, but the trick is that they never admit that. It's never "we're terrified of immigrants," it's "immigrants are taking our jobs." The fear can never be portrayed as fear; it has to be portrayed as outrage at a perceived enemy. If they were willing to admit to fear, climate change, as one of the most genuinely terrifying things in history, would be top of their list.

[u/PerplexGG → u/Drafo7]

Oh of course! Not to mention that being afraid is way too feminine for them. Until something directly happens to them they’ll parrot whatever they’re told. All in the name of getting fleeced by their constituents in the name of hate.

*reps not constituents

[u/Brbi2kCRO → u/Drafo7]

They are emotional and immature and crave belonging so they take whatever persona’s easier for them to upkeep status.

[u/evolpert → u/Middle-Preference864]

There are man who thinks that hygiene is emasculating.... its hard to understand because it makes no sense with the minimum evaluation of the subject

[u/Middle-Preference864 → u/evolpert]

That’s an American phenomenon

[u/FureiousPhalanges → u/Middle-Preference864]

You say that, but I've met plenty of men outside the US that seem to have a problem washing their hands after pissing

[u/K1lgoreTr0ut → u/Middle-Preference864]

Oil company marketing.

[u/PM_ME_GARFIELD_NUDES → u/K1lgoreTr0ut]

Ding Ding Ding We have a winner! It’s been proven over and over that stupid people are incredibly easy to manipulate with simple marketing. Need to cancel the votes of minorities? We’ve got the southern strategy! Need to line the pockets of the rich people? We’ve got trickle down economics! Need to convince people to eat more meat and drink more milk? We’ve got stupid “Wood Milk” commercials! Need people to keep buying oil? Just tell the dummies that caring about the environment is gay!

[u/ProfessionalMockery → u/Middle-Preference864]

Men strong. Men fight. Strength and fighting good for destruction. Caring for things opposite of destruction, opposite of manliness, therefore looking after environment gay. Why solar power when can make power with fire? Fire destroy. Fire not gay.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[u/Middle-Preference864 → u/ProfessionalMockery]

ape. together. strong.

[u/BrandonLart → u/Middle-Preference864]

Everything is gender. In modern America every issue has been defined along a masculine to feminine axis. With kindness and caring coded as feminine and asshole insults coded as masculine.

[u/bibrexd → u/BrandonLart]

If you look back at history many companies started making common things “feminine” and upcharging them, like razors.

And now they’re doing it to men, as if it isn’t just the exact same as those uncharged products. No you don’t need dude wipes to wipe your asshole, you didn’t for years, you don’t now. And also, those are actually baby wipes.

[u/BrandonLart → u/bibrexd]

I’m thinking of the waffles that are masculine coded with BEARS all over the cover

[u/AdministrativeStep98 → u/Middle-Preference864]

Because accepting climate change means that the big billionaires who are the main cause of this are being targeted. They don't want that so they just make up BS about how it's woke and emasculating to care about it and voilà, random dudes are now defending them for free

[u/abzlute → u/Middle-Preference864]

OP's comment includes statements from the article elaborating on the reasoning, and it checks out in my experience. Being flippant or unbothered about things like environmental damage fits into conventional masculinity.

https://www.reddit.com/r/science/s/LvvB3yNFVH

[u/Trashking_702 → u/Middle-Preference864]

If someone called someone feminine over climate change I’d just laugh at them. These people remind me of the mid 40 years olds I see on reels paying 20k to go to “masculinity” boot camps getting yelled at by former military people for not being men.

[u/_CMDR_ → u/Middle-Preference864]

They are related by a decades long propaganda campaign to make caring about the world not a manly thing.

[u/Mirageswirl → u/Middle-Preference864]

Pickup truck marketing

[u/onClipEvent → u/Middle-Preference864]

Being caring and sympathetic is seen as a weakness. Also, nature is to be tamed, controlled, and utilized by 'man'. (truck commercials)

[u/ConsistentRegion6184 → u/Middle-Preference864]

False dichotomy that oil/fossil fuels are for self-reliance (think guns too), and on a macro scale not so much.

[u/radish-salad → u/Middle-Preference864]

Destruction is masculine and caring is feminine, i guess??? 

[u/Eyeownyew → u/Middle-Preference864]

People who subscribe to toxic masculinity also tend to subscribe to "liberals are p*ssies" and "liberals care about the climate and the trees".

Fellas, is it gay to want a habitable planet for future generations? Is it gay to want to maintain biodiversity and understand that the food chain is imperative to our survival as a species?

[u/SaturnsClubhouse]

This stupidity will kill us all. 

[u/Zealotstim → u/SaturnsClubhouse]

The academic term is gender-affirming environmental destruction

[u/ag_robertson_author → u/Zealotstim]

It's actually petro-masculinity.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petro-masculinity

[u/GravelySilly → u/Zealotstim]

"gender-affirming carelessness"

[u/Steinrikur → u/SaturnsClubhouse]

Toxic masculinity is also toxic to the environment.

[u/MisterB78]

This one of stupidest things I’ve ever heard

[u/The_Doct0r_ → u/MisterB78]

Hangout in a small town bar in a Southern red state (U.S.).

[u/Irisgrower2 → u/The_Doct0r_]

I try and frame the issues in their language by presenting them in terms related to farming, hunting, and tradition.

[u/MrBrawn → u/The_Doct0r_]

Or christmas dinner.

[u/Any_Area_2945 → u/The_Doct0r_]

Just hang out with any conservative person and you will hear many stupider things than that

[u/theaveragemillenial]

Maybe it's because I'm not insecure about my masculinity or manhood but I don't really see caring about nature as feminine?

I see being in touch with nature as raw and animalist if anything, and you could draw a link between that and masculinity, if you were inclined to feel the need.

[u/onlyPornstuffs → u/theaveragemillenial]

These are probably the same losers who think that not eating meat at all times makes them gay.

[u/ug61dec → u/theaveragemillenial]

It's exactly this. Those who feel the need to maintain a masculine image are talking specially about toxic masculinity, not the sort of masculinity where you stand up, lead, look after others and sort stuff out.

[u/FluxUniversity → u/ug61dec]

"stand up, lead, look after others and sort stuff out"

women have been doing this thanklessly for generations now

[u/ug61dec → u/FluxUniversity]

Often in the face of adversity from a lot of men!

[u/MiaowaraShiro → u/FluxUniversity]

There aren't a lot of things that are exclusively gendered when you get down to it.

[u/Fascinatedwithfire → u/theaveragemillenial]

Think it might have something to do with the frontier, 'man vs the world', 'master of my destiny', 'shape the world in my image' image.

Living in harmony with nature and the world has always been positioned as female. To admit an amount of wrong by admitting there are consequences for having 'dominated' aint no good.

[u/DukeLukeivi → u/theaveragemillenial]

Where are all the Teddy Roosevelt conservatives? Conservationism is a conservative policy, like it's in the fucking words.

Ever notice how Trump pays to put his name on products and buildings and spent a decade dancing for reality tv peanuts to try and sell the idea that he's a rich successful mogul in exactly the way Bezos Cuban and Buffett don't?

Men,worried about proving their masculinity for social approval...

LMAO

[u/123jjj321 → u/DukeLukeivi]

Fox told them it was gay.

[u/Steve_FishWell]

"The measure used in the European survey was a single question, which might have lacked nuance. In this second study, men completed the Masculine Gender Role Stress scale." yeah, so why did he even include it? this reeks of poor scientific method and pop science

[u/yulbrynnersmokes → u/Steve_FishWell]

The bar is low for this branch of science and the sources, topics allowed in this sub.

Can you imagine these people magazine abstracts when referring to some new research in chemistry, physics, etc?

[u/Evipicc]

If expressing a concern about the environment is all it takes you make you question your masculinity, you're already questioning your masculinity.

[u/GMGarry_Chess → u/Evipicc]

yeah, it's in the title. they "feel pressure to prove their manhood".

[u/jimmybirch → u/Evipicc]

Yep… caring what other men think about you is also a big sign that your masculinity is a bit fragile

[u/Shufflepants]

So, conservatism correlates with conservatism.

[u/aDarkDarkNight → u/Shufflepants]

Or to put it another way "Men who are concerned about maintaining a traditional masculine image may be less likely to express concern about "X" to avoid appearing feminine

[u/Princess_Beard → u/aDarkDarkNight]

Even back in the 90s, I could boil most of the reasons I was bullied down to "it's gay to care about things". It seems that prevailing culture doubled down instead of fizzling away over time, especially with conservative straight guys.

[u/SuperStoneman → u/Princess_Beard]

Yeah, reading, loving your parents and not wanting to harm insects was apparently super gay back then.

[u/Fluid-Tip-5964 → u/SuperStoneman]

As was recycling. Nothing new here. Just another side effect of testosterone poisoning.

[u/Antique_Maybe_8324 → u/Fluid-Tip-5964]

Just my opinion, but high T and recycling aren’t mutually exclusive.

Hell, Sparta was a bunch a fighty bro dudes that banged.

These little conservative-bros are just scared. “Gender roles” fk off, ima go cut firewood in a kilt. And then care of my baby kiddo so the missus can get some shuteye.

To all you folks, I implore you to dare to care, That’s some heroic level shiz.

Edit: removed some words

[u/No_Size9475 → u/Antique_Maybe_8324]

Modern Conservatives are the least manly men in the history of man.

[u/SaltdPepper → u/Antique_Maybe_8324]

Well I mean, if you really think about it, caring about anything means you actually understand the ramifications of your choices. Of course they’re “scared”, many of these people are so deep in denial that accepting that their worldviews have serious negative consequences would be akin to accepting their life was one big lie. In fact, I have no doubt that plenty of them have wrestled with the possibility that they really are actively destroying society, and chosen to ignore that possibility entirely.

Conservatism relies on sunk cost fallacies within sunk cost fallacies, so any deviation, no matter how marginal, is heresy. That’s why apathy and incompetence thrive in conservative circles. It’s why conservatives might be book smart but they can never really be emotionally intelligent. There exists a complete and utter incompatibility.

[u/CrowTengu → u/SaltdPepper]

So, in RPG terms, their WIS is practically a dump stat and possibly nonexistent.

[u/SaltdPepper → u/CrowTengu]

Exactly, while INT is still considered necessary. Which is why a common argument from conservatives is that they know plenty of “smart” people who still subscribe to right wing politics.

As circumstance would have it, making calculations and thinking within an already established system is rather easy for these people, but going outside the box is nearly impossible. Hence why anti-intellectuals focus on the “dogma” of science despite science being an ever-changing subject based on falsification.

[u/No_Size9475 → u/Princess_Beard]

Conservative thinks empathy is a feminine trait and undesirable.

[u/spacekitt3n → u/aDarkDarkNight]

Gender affirming behavior 

[u/Hereseangoes → u/aDarkDarkNight]

This is exactly how the last election was lost. Being a democrat or liberal was seen as "being gay." I work a very blue collar job. Im one of like three people that knows how to vote for myself. Everyone else was worried about being a sissy. In my book worrying about what anyone else thinks about you is not very manly, but what do I know? I voted hor Harris in a state where voting doesn't mean a damn thing. 

[u/MisterSanitation → u/Shufflepants]

“Assholes are inconsiderate”

[u/alex8155 → u/Shufflepants]

def correlates with huge insecurities with these guys

[u/OkReception9095]

this might not be a popular perspective but i’d encourage people to think about where they’ve been negatively polarized to things that appear traditionally masculine. It’s the same phenomenon just reversed. Theres also a ton of reasons people might want to perform a more masculine role when the world feels uncertain and there’s less upward mobility.

I’ve been thinking a lot about environmentalism as an opportunity to broaden a coalition of more traditionally conservative voters. I would really like to see more creative work done on telling a story about protecting land and water for things like hunting and fishing.

[u/No_Size9475 → u/OkReception9095]

Can you give me an example?

[u/OkReception9095 → u/No_Size9475]

i think you could choose any number of things but: stoicism, patriotism, christianity, gun ownership, sports, blue-collar work etc etc

[u/AerosolHubris → u/OkReception9095]

This comment confuses me. Can you clarify what you mean?

[u/carinasguitar → u/AerosolHubris]

They want to try to associate nature conservation with hobbies that conservative men enjoy.

[u/Whornz4]

There is nothing more emasculating than a loser who is too afraid to speak facts. 

[u/dropkickninja]

This is one of the dumbest things I've ever read

[u/hustla17]

The issue isn’t that caring about the environment is inherently seen as feminine; it’s that environmental concern signals limits, long-term thinking, and restraint, which conflicts with dominance-based masculine identity scripts. For some men, especially those under pressure to prove status, denying climate change becomes a way to protect their gender identity. Too many people in power operate under this logic.

Ideally, decisions would be guided by people trained in the scientific method, but even scientists are constrained by incentives and human susceptibility to power and greed. Without institutions that reward truth and long-term outcomes, technocracy collapses into the same failure modes. The problem isn’t humanity per se; it’s that systems reward short-term dominance over long-term survival.

[u/pessimistoptimist]

Oich...talk about a soft study. 3 questions were asked and that predicts their feelings goward masculinity and their comprehensive view of the environment and climate change. Im not connected to work vpn roght now so I cant pull the full original paper so I dont know exactly what tjese questions were. 10 bucks says they were pretty loaded to support the hypothesis.

I wish people would tag these trade journal articles that summarize and spin the actual articles making tjem seem like they are alot more profound and concrete research tjan theu actually are.

[u/BarleyWineIsTheBest → u/pessimistoptimist]

I’m not on the work VPN either, but from the abstract this is one dude who had this hypothesis and went looking at other studies to back it up and shocker, the author says yes the hypothesis is supported. No mention of any sort of data analysis or stats…. Just a bait headline.

[u/psyon]

Where did they do this study? I know quite a few "mainly men", who are are fire squads for wild fires and talk about climate change all the time.

[u/darkpsychicenergy → u/psyon]

Those are men who are not concerned about maintaining a traditionally masculine image because they’re already secure in their masculinity.

[u/No_Size9475 → u/darkpsychicenergy]

I can't imagine living my life so concerned about what other people think about me. My dad taught me very young that what other people think about me is none of my business. Live your life for who you want to be.

[u/TiagoASGoncalves]

A self report based study (where people likely report as imagined) and no consideration for variats like insecurities... Very limited value if any.

[u/whomppum1]

The fact this is even an article is hilariously pathetic

[u/Morussian]

From my personal experience those who want to appear masculine are usually the most insecure about their masculinity. It is an absolute shame that it manifests itself in being less empathic and protective.

[u/NVZ_v1]

I feel like this is more reductionist garbage that does more harm reinforcing stereotypes than it does helping the climate change cause. This author of the journal has so any male-focused studies. Such as, “men who are sensitive about masculinity are less likely to forgive coworkers”.

Framing environmental concern as “feminine” is itself a cultural stereotype. These types of social journals are not definitive science, just interesting associations.

There’s tons of research showing political ideology, economic interests, and cultural context are far bigger predictors of climate beliefs than any single personality dimension.

[u/reddituser567853]

Please for the love of science and all that is good , ban pop psychology and sociology from this sub

[u/VelkaFrey]

Scientists will study anything except unbiased climate papers.

[u/gregglessthegoat]

Just as I suspected: trees are gay

[u/the-heart-of-chimera → u/gregglessthegoat]

Some of them literally are. You have monoecious, dioecious, and hermaphroditic trees. Which means they are either completely male or female, partially male or female, or can self pollinate.