Opinion- What is a Manly Man?: Responding to Harry Styles’s Vogue cover

Opinion piece, anonymous

The loved and talented musician Harry Styles was announced as America Vogue’s November cover star, making him the first man to appear solo on the cover. It was an immediate hit among fans and non-fans alike since many agreed it was an excellent representation of fashion and Harry was an amazing model for Gucci.

However, a controversy started brewing when Candace Owens, an extremely conservative political author tweeted in response, “There is no society that can survive without strong men….It is an outright attack. Bring back manly men.” Many famous men tweeted pictures of themselves in dresses to support Styles, and everyone from Styles’s mother to people that aren’t even fans of his music were tweeting pictures of other males and male musicians wearing dresses. Candace stood by her statements and continued to say, “Stable men do not wear ball gowns.”

First off, this is an outrageous statement. The idea of the “manly” man is a man that is “strong”, “doesn’t cry”, and “goes to work from 9 to 5.” If this man is so “manly” and is in touch with themselves to the point they can be strong enough not to express feelings, then they should not be fragile to the point where they can’t understand that someone else wearing clothes is none of their business. The only thing that makes a man a man is if he chooses to be one. The rest is up for them to decide. Wearing a dress and painting their nails is not compromising anything, because it’s fashion. They are fashion trends because a dress is a piece of clothing, not something that you are blowing it out of proportion to be. Why are people like you so threatened by a man wearing a dress? Is it because you’re not comfortable with it? Is it because you can’t wrap your head around the fact that they just want to look good? Or is it the fact that you felt so uncomfortable in your own skin that you have to project your insecurities onto everybody else?

Second, Candance expresses her opinions in that she is not “attracted to men in dresses” and believes that “women should be more feminine.” She’s allowed to have a preference, that’s totally fine! But the minute she brings down others for their choices is the minute people lose respect for her perspective. See, anyone can disagree on, say, their favorite type of pasta or what color they like, or even what political party they stand for. However, the minute someone disagrees on a basic human right, like wearing a piece of clothing and modeling for a magazine, it’s wrong. There’s nothing wrong with Candace wanting to cook for her husband, but the minute she tries to force that on other women, she’s contradicting her own words. She says that “woke people” are trying to control everything. Isn't she trying to make men “manly” or women “feminine” by technically controlling someone? By making them act the way she wants them to?

Candace claims that these men are mentally unstable and all of the people with pictures in dresses are drug addicts who wear dresses to call out for help. Many of the men that sent in pictures are perfectly healthy with families and have never had a drug addiction, a good example being Misha Collins. They’re just people that like to look good.

Finally, she claims that women created the term “toxic masculinity”. It’s people like Candace who continue to suppress men from expressing themselves and doing what they want to do that cause them to have poor mental health. So everyone on her side that is aware of the high male suicide rate should maybe rethink their statements before they say something.

Being male has and will never have anything to do with what someone wears or how one does, loves, or acts. The only thing that makes people less “manly” is when they decide to bring others down for their decisions.

All arguments aside, Harry Styles is an amazing model and musical artist. He’s making a lot of money at the end of the day. So, there’s no real bad blood. When you don’t have something nice to say, keep it to yourself. Whatever someone chooses to do with themselves is nobody's business but their own.