James' World 2

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I don’t want to alarm you men, but you’re not men anymore.

You can be forgiven for not noticing that men aren’t men anymore, because men are always not men anymore. “Men aren’t men anymore”—like “nobody younger than me wants to work” and “this isn’t real music”—has been said every day in every language since we’ve had days and languages. It’s a particular concern in America, where men haven’t been men anymore from the jump. Almost certainly one of our founding fathers told his son, “Don’t leave this house without your wig, stockings, and frock coat—I didn’t raise a sissy.”

But now, as our culture reevaluates gender, reconsiders the patriarchy, and has red-assed opinions about Barbie, men are yelling about men not being men anymore more than ever. It’s given rise to countless Dour Dude podcasts and fueled a branding revolution in conservative politics. No less an authority on Dude Stuff than Missouri senator Josh Hawley published a book this year called Manhood: The Masculine Virtues America Needs, which reads like the title of a very niche gay porn film and has yet to make a single person forget the image of him running away from the encroaching mob on January 6, 2021. Masculinity is a hot conversation.

I am proud to tell you that Esquire has been on the “thinking too much about what is and is not manly” beat from Issue 1, Autumn 1933, when we promised we were “determined to stay masculine.” Have we lived up to that promise? Let’s find out together.

In 1959, a quiz tested readers’ Masculinity Quotient with questions like “When you bought your last car, what influenced you most: (1) its color, or (2) its power” and “At a bar, are you apt to order (1) a Manhattan made with sherry, or (2) rye.” Right away, the savvy reader will say, “Got it—1 is ladies, 2 is gentlemen,” but then: “Can you ‘rise and shine’ in the morning without too much grumbling? (1) no (2) yes” and “Have you visited an art museum of your own free will within the last six months? (1) yes (2) no,” and you think, Researchers of 1959, are you okay? (1) no (2) no.

In Esquire’s defense, we reflect the culture as much as we seek to inform it, which is to say, sometimes it’s the advertisers’ fault. An ad for lower-tar Merit cigarettes in 1997 features a relaxed, handsome dude in a Henley, with copy that promises: “You can do it! You can switch down to lower tar.” Henley Man points his cig toward the camera confidently, as if to say, “Fellas, it is no longer gay to not die.”

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