In this moment of crisis, macho leaders are a weakness, not a strength

[Judi Lynn]

In this moment of crisis, macho leaders are a weakness, not a strength
Robin Dembroff

Mon 13 Apr 2020 09.00 EDT

Trump and Bolsonaro have been a liability in the face of coronavirus. We need leaders with a different emotional skillset

For the entirety of Ronald Reagan’s first term, despite overwhelming evidence that Aids was a public health crisis, he brushed off the disease’s severity, saying “it would go away”. By 1987, Aids had killed more than 29,000 Americans. In that same year, Don Francis, an official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testified before Congress that Reagan’s administration caused “untold hardship, misery and expense to the American public” by obstructing, resisting and interfering with policies and programmes designed to prevent the Aids epidemic in the US.

Certain factors at play in the Aids epidemic are not at play in our current pandemic: most obviously, Covid-19 is not associated with the gay community. Nonetheless, there are echoes of Reagan’s response to the Aids epidemic. Last month, days after California had declared a state of emergency and Seattle schools had begun to close, Donald Trump asserted that Covid-19 would simply “go away”. Shortly before that, he said that it would “disappear … like a miracle”. Trump was joined in his parade of denial by other far-right populist leaders, especially Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro. In March, he described Covid-19 as a “little flu” that does not warrant “hysteria”, and claimed that Brazil would be protected from the virus by its climate and youthful population.

What motivates men like Trump and Bolsonaro to deny, falsify and dismiss evidence about public health crises?

One salient feature stands out as common among these men: toxic masculinity. The concept has become popular, with Google searches for the term skyrocketing in January 2019 when the shaving company Gillette released a series of advertisements that challenged traditional expressions of masculinity, such as bullying, suppressing emotions and sexual harassment. Those advertisements set off a public debate about whether toxic masculinity is a helpful concept. Some took to Twitter and other media to complain that “masculinity isn’t a sickness”, while others, like the American Psychological Association, maintained that these traditional forms of masculinity harm not only men, but also those around them.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/13/leaders-trump-bolsonaro-coroanvirus-toxic-masculinity

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. It's interesting that the seven countries that seem to be managing

the epidemic best are all headed by women: Germany, New Zealand, Taiwan, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Iceland.

Love

Norway’s Prime Minister, Erna Solberg, had the innovative idea of using television to talk directly to her country’s children. She was building on the short, 3-minute press conference that Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen had held a couple of days earlier. Solberg held a dedicated press conference where no adults were allowed. She responded to kids’ questions from across the country, taking time to explain why it was OK to feel scared. The originality and obviousness of the idea takes one’s breath away. How many other simple, humane innovations would more female leadership unleash?

Generally, the empathy and care which all of these female leaders have communicated seems to come from an alternate universe than the one we have gotten used to. It’s like their arms are coming out of their videos to hold you close in a heart-felt and loving embrace. Who knew leaders could sound like this? Now we do.

Now, compare these leaders and stories with the strongmen using the crisis to accelerate a terrifying trifecta of authoritarianism: blame-“others”, capture-the-judiciary, demonize-the-journalists, and blanket their country in I-will-never-retire darkness (Trump, Bolsonaro, Obrador, Modi, Duterte, Orban, Putin, Netanyahu…).

There have been years of research timidly suggesting that women’s leadership styles might be different and beneficial. Instead, too many political organizations and companies are still working to get women to behave more like men if they want to lead or succeed. Yet these national leaders are case study sightings of the seven leadership traits men may want to learn from women.

It’s time we recognized it – and elected more of it.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/avivahwittenbergcox/2020/04/13/what-do-countries-with-the-best-coronavirus-reponses-have-in-common-women-leaders/#49cea0413dec Coincidence? I don't think so.

[alwaysinasnit]

2. +1000

[Girard442]

3. Saying Trump has "toxic masculinity" is still giving him way too much credit.

He's a whiny little spoiled brat who mistreats the toys daddy (Putin) buys for him and throws a tantrum when he breaks them.

[Beartracks]

7. Apparently, being toxic, it turns the guy into a man-baby. n/t

[Docreed2003]

4. We're seeing this in the way the right has responded to stay at home orders

Their insistence on opening the economy and suggesting that people need to "man up and do their jobs", like on GOP slug suggested yesterday, are all a part of their toxic masculinity cult. As if a virus cares how "much of a man" you are...it's disgusting and it's deadly.

[Aristus]

5. Trump isn't the least bit macho. No matter how hard he tries.

He cried his way out of the war of his generation by saying his feet hurt.

He wears more makeup and hairspray than Divine, for crying out loud.

And the only way he can get laid is to pay a hooker or write a wife into his will.

Where I'm from, that ain't macho...

[monmouth4]

6. He's more mobster than macho..n/t