This week in feminism: The Hottest Thing a Man Can Do Is Not Be a Jerk About Astrology

[Metaphor]

Honestly, I thought it was satire. Selected amusing paragraphs below.

https://www.insidehook.com/article/sex-and-dating/why-men-hate-astrology-toxic-masculinity

Straight men, the internet has a question for you: Why do you hate astrology so much?

Maybe they realise it is time-wasting bullshit peddled by charlatans?

Hannah Ewers was among the first to pose the query in a 2018 Vice article, followed by Leah Thomas writing for Cosmopolitan the next year. The answers they found, based on interviews with real, red-blooded, astrology-hating straight men,

What? They don't care what gay and bisexual men had to say? Talk about LGB erasure.

In other words, men feel entitled to belittle and denigrate astrology for the same reason they feel entitled to belittle and denigrate anything else society has coded as “feminine” or otherwise related to women: because the very thread that holds a patriarchal society together is the fundamental — if now largely unspoken — belief that womanhood itself is inherently bad. Thus, anything of or related to women must, by extension, be foolish, frivolous, stupid or simply evil.

Or, astrology is foolish, frivolous, and stupid. (I wouldn't say evil).

As society increasingly begins to reckon with the forces of toxic masculinity and the adverse effects it has on people of all genders — including straight, cis men — those who openly deride astrology are beginning to find themselves among a class of “alpha-male” types often characterized by less-than-progressive views and a commitment to dated, arguably unsavory notions of hypermasculinity.


As recent reports on the rise of “wokefishing” — in which online daters boast more progressive views than they actually hold — suggests, even those who proudly position themselves toward the right of the political spectrum know that their views might not be helping their dating lives. And while dissing astrology may be a less egregious offense — more akin to expressing antipathy for veganism than, say, raging against a specific minority community — it can still come off as a red flag.

There are solid arguments for veganism. There are no solid arguments for astrology.

“It just feels very closed-minded to me when a guy is immediately very dismissive of astrology, even when he plays it off as a ‘joke,’” says Emma, a 25-year-old who considers herself a moderate astrology fan.


For what it’s worth, however, Reynolds is willing to cut astrology haters a little slack if they’ve been burned by astrological malpractice at the hands of amateur enthusiasts.

Astrological malpractice lol. How is that distinguishable from astrological practice?

Meanwhile, if astro-intolerance is a red flag,

This woman votes.

While the leap from astrology to sexism may seem questionable, Reynolds actually sees modern male antipathy for astrology as deeply rooted in patriarchal structures, suggesting a more insidious mindset may underlie casual astro-shaming as well as much darker manifestations of toxic masculinity today.


This link between astrology hating and misogyny is apparent in more overt ways, specifically the mere act of men belittling a woman’s interest in something in the first place. As Reynolds wrote in his response to Ewers’s Vice article, “If he belittles you because you’re into astrology, fuck him. (And I don’t mean literally.) You don’t need to look up his Mercury sign to know he’s a jerk.”


But according to Reynolds, there’s more to it than the obvious red flag of a guy being rude to a woman.

“There’s something that I think is deep in the male psyche that we need to talk about,” he tells InsideHook. “Men associate who they are, as men in relationships, with how they shape and define the other person’s personhood. Their sense of identity is that fragile, and that has really powerful implications — not just in terms of how he’s dealing with you in a particular conversation on the first date about astrology, but in more bizarre and horrendous ways, like why are there more men who do murder-suicides?”


Obviously, not all men who hate astrology are killers, but Reynolds’ argument seeks to highlight the insidious through line that unites seemingly casual displays of sexism and machismo to their horrific extremes — and it doesn’t just begin with the modern masculinity crisis as we know it today.

I know when I was a kid, I tortured and killed small animals, and then I read the astrology column so I could scoff at it.

Is there anything that the patriarchy doesn't explain? It's like unified field theory, except better.

The rest of the article goes on in this vein, and gets even more ludicrous, if that can be imagined. Toxic masculinity, patriarchy, imperialism, Enlightenment ideals as progenitor of modern toxic masculinity.


But a final note, and straight men on the board, take not - faking nice on astrology could get you sex.

I’m not saying you have to become a certified astrologer or even an avid fan; a little respect and openness is really all we ask. If you want to take it a step further, learn your sun sign, and if you really want to impress a date, figure out your moon sign as well. It won’t kill you, and ultimately you’ll seem like a kinder, chiller, more generally pleasant person than the guy who rolls his eyes and climbs atop his anti-astrology soapbox in the middle of a first date. And, hey, you might even like it.

 

[ZiprHead]

I know when I was a kid, I tortured and killed small animals,

This explains a lot.

 

[KeepTalking]

Honestly, I thought it was satire. Selected amusing paragraphs below.

https://www.insidehook.com/article/sex-and-dating/why-men-hate-astrology-toxic-masculinity



Maybe they realise it is time-wasting bullshit peddled by charlatans?



What? They don't care what gay and bisexual men had to say? Talk about LGB erasure.

In other words, men feel entitled to belittle and denigrate astrology for the same reason they feel entitled to belittle and denigrate anything else society has coded as “feminine” or otherwise related to women: because the very thread that holds a patriarchal society together is the fundamental — if now largely unspoken — belief that womanhood itself is inherently bad. Thus, anything of or related to women must, by extension, be foolish, frivolous, stupid or simply evil.

Or, astrology is foolish, frivolous, and stupid. (I wouldn't say evil).

As society increasingly begins to reckon with the forces of toxic masculinity and the adverse effects it has on people of all genders — including straight, cis men — those who openly deride astrology are beginning to find themselves among a class of “alpha-male” types often characterized by less-than-progressive views and a commitment to dated, arguably unsavory notions of hypermasculinity.


As recent reports on the rise of “wokefishing” — in which online daters boast more progressive views than they actually hold — suggests, even those who proudly position themselves toward the right of the political spectrum know that their views might not be helping their dating lives. And while dissing astrology may be a less egregious offense — more akin to expressing antipathy for veganism than, say, raging against a specific minority community — it can still come off as a red flag.

There are solid arguments for veganism. There are no solid arguments for astrology.

“It just feels very closed-minded to me when a guy is immediately very dismissive of astrology, even when he plays it off as a ‘joke,’” says Emma, a 25-year-old who considers herself a moderate astrology fan.


For what it’s worth, however, Reynolds is willing to cut astrology haters a little slack if they’ve been burned by astrological malpractice at the hands of amateur enthusiasts.

Astrological malpractice lol. How is that distinguishable from astrological practice?

Meanwhile, if astro-intolerance is a red flag,

This woman votes.

While the leap from astrology to sexism may seem questionable, Reynolds actually sees modern male antipathy for astrology as deeply rooted in patriarchal structures, suggesting a more insidious mindset may underlie casual astro-shaming as well as much darker manifestations of toxic masculinity today.


This link between astrology hating and misogyny is apparent in more overt ways, specifically the mere act of men belittling a woman’s interest in something in the first place. As Reynolds wrote in his response to Ewers’s Vice article, “If he belittles you because you’re into astrology, fuck him. (And I don’t mean literally.) You don’t need to look up his Mercury sign to know he’s a jerk.”


But according to Reynolds, there’s more to it than the obvious red flag of a guy being rude to a woman.

“There’s something that I think is deep in the male psyche that we need to talk about,” he tells InsideHook. “Men associate who they are, as men in relationships, with how they shape and define the other person’s personhood. Their sense of identity is that fragile, and that has really powerful implications — not just in terms of how he’s dealing with you in a particular conversation on the first date about astrology, but in more bizarre and horrendous ways, like why are there more men who do murder-suicides?”


Obviously, not all men who hate astrology are killers, but Reynolds’ argument seeks to highlight the insidious through line that unites seemingly casual displays of sexism and machismo to their horrific extremes — and it doesn’t just begin with the modern masculinity crisis as we know it today.

I know when I was a kid, I tortured and killed small animals, and then I read the astrology column so I could scoff at it.

Is there anything that the patriarchy doesn't explain? It's like unified field theory, except better.

The rest of the article goes on in this vein, and gets even more ludicrous, if that can be imagined. Toxic masculinity, patriarchy, imperialism, Enlightenment ideals as progenitor of modern toxic masculinity.

Some pretty inane reasoning in those articles. Disbelief in astrology does not equate to hatred of astrology, or any kind of disrespect to women. There are plenty of men who believe in it, and plenty of women who do not. This subject seems no different to me than Christians complaining about being discriminated against by non believers.

But a final note, and straight men on the board, take not - faking nice on astrology could get you sex.

I’m not saying you have to become a certified astrologer or even an avid fan; a little respect and openness is really all we ask. If you want to take it a step further, learn your sun sign, and if you really want to impress a date, figure out your moon sign as well. It won’t kill you, and ultimately you’ll seem like a kinder, chiller, more generally pleasant person than the guy who rolls his eyes and climbs atop his anti-astrology soapbox in the middle of a first date. And, hey, you might even like it.

Heh, that is actually the most reasonable thing the article says. Of course it does come from a magazine that bills itself as:

At InsideHook, we’re fond of calling ourselves “the go-to news and luxury lifestyle recommendation platform for the affluent, on-the-go gent.” But what does that mean, really?

Essentially it shakes out like this: as a man becomes more successful, his free time tends to shrink. So while he may have the means to be out there living his best life, what he doesn’t have is the time to sift through the mountain of information out there telling him what to do with this most precious of commodities.

Not a publication that is going to be taking a deep dive into the subject. They had to boil it down to dating advice for their readers to even give it a passing look, but I am surprised the editors of a publication that caters to affluent men would let something like this through. I would think that it would lose them some readers. How did you find this rag, anyway?

 

[lpetrich]

Why Men Should (at Least Pretend to) Care About Astrology - InsideHook - I read it and I was very disappointed. Its author did not try to find out why those men dislike astrology.

 

[Metaphor]

Not a publication that is going to be taking a deep dive into the subject. They had to boil it down to dating advice for their readers to even give it a passing look, but I am surprised the editors of a publication that caters to affluent men would let something like this through. I would think that it would lose them some readers. How did you find this rag, anyway?

I only came upon it today, it was linked from something I was watching on YouTube. I haven't read any other articles in it but the links within the body of the quoted article appear to indicate that the magazine has published essays of a similar nature.

Though I'm not surprised it's woke. GQ has gone woke, and that is a magazine with the same target market as this one.

 

[laughing dog]

In a world with almost 8 billion people, stupid stuff is bound to crop up. With all the serious issues in the world today, why anyone would think such inanity is worthy of notice is beyond me.

 

[KeepTalking]

Not a publication that is going to be taking a deep dive into the subject. They had to boil it down to dating advice for their readers to even give it a passing look, but I am surprised the editors of a publication that caters to affluent men would let something like this through. I would think that it would lose them some readers. How did you find this rag, anyway?

I only came upon it today, it was linked from something I was watching on YouTube. I haven't read any other articles in it but the links within the body of the quoted article appear to indicate that the magazine has published essays of a similar nature.

Though I'm not surprised it's woke. GQ has gone woke, and that is a magazine with the same target market as this one.

Okay, this is where I have to disagree with you. Please do your best to convince me that belief in astrology is "woke".

 

[repoman]

The hottest thing a woman can do is not be a jerk about _____ ?

fill in the blank about some comparatively silly woo or waste of time that men do as disproportionately as women with astrology.

 

[ruby sparks]

The hottest thing a woman can do is not be a jerk about _____ ?

MFF threesomes?

 

[repoman]

How Dare You?!?

 

[ruby sparks]

[OP post snipped for brevity]

It seems a pretty rubbish article.

For example,

While the leap from astrology to sexism may seem questionable.....

At this point I felt like saying 'yes, but do go on'.....

.....Reynolds actually sees modern male antipathy for astrology as deeply rooted in patriarchal structures, suggesting a more insidious mindset may underlie casual astro-shaming as well as much darker manifestations of toxic masculinity today.

I'm fairly sure men were well into astrology back in the day.

I agree with your criticisms here. It's a case of 'absolutely anything can be blamed on patriarchy'.

 

[KeepTalking]

The hottest thing a woman can do is not be a jerk about _____ ?

MFF threesomes?

Pick up nearly any women's magazine in existence, and you are likely to find dating advice along the lines of the question posed, with the blank filled in. I am pretty sure none of them offer your advice, but if one did, straight men would be buying it in droves, just so they could leave it laying around for their significant other to find.

 

[ruby sparks]

How Dare You?!?

Ah. I see you wanted an example about typically male religion.

In that case, football.

 

[fromderinside]

Funny how fascination with anatomical function stokes some imaginations. No knowledge of physics, chemistry, biology, history, philosophy, manners or politics, just orifices and stick outs. There is a guy/girl who thinks a fan outside his/her drivers window indicates speed and thrills at 20 mph.

Sound the same to me.

 

[Toni]

I wish I could say that I’m surprised that (some) men do not understand the difference between not sharing an interest in astrology (or knitting or gardening or (fill in the blank) and ridiculing women who are interested, but I can’t.

 

[Enigma]

[YOUTUBE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhCWw0E_mVY[/YOUTUBE]

 

[ruby sparks]

[YOUTUBE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhCWw0E_mVY[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Toni]

If any of you men ever wonder why you can’t get laid by women, the answer is in this thread—and it has nothing to do with astrology.

 

[Keith&Co.]

The last time i had a long discussion about astrology, my supervisor was telling me how the stars influenced us, even 400 feet down on patrol, 500 miles from the nearest women.
Of course, Steve also maintained that people act weird on the full moon because when the moon is FULL, it has an increased gravitational pull on human brains.
Grown-ass man in charge of programming nuclear weapons seriously insisting the full moon had more mass than a half moon, like, 'Duh!'
I was, um, dismissive. And it had nothing to do with the patriarchy.

 

[ruby sparks]

If any of you men ever wonder why you can’t get laid by women, the answer is in this thread—and it has nothing to do with astrology.

Ooooh. Are you a Scorpio by any chance?