The Missing “P” In The Male Narrative

Scott Galloway and others go off on “what men are” and/or “what men should be.” But they always miss a key word.

Let’s do a caveat here upfront, shall we? My wife and I are in about Year Five of infertility, and since a big part of the conventional masculine narrative is (and always will be) virility, I think often about issues related to masculinity, what being a “man” even means, how men show up for others (romantically and as friends or co-workers), etc, etc. I have opined on it a lot over time. Here and there, I’ve heard from some people that it’s helpful, so that’s why I continue to do it. It’s probably also helpful to me in some way.

Now, personally I do like a lot of Scott Galloway’s stuff. He is anti-MAGA and calls them on their shit, which is nice to see here and there. Ultimately I think he is probably a Gen X bro dog who made some good investments in self and Goldman Sachs mid-caps and rode that to a small level of Internet fame. Now he’s getting more fame because he’s a guy that Morning Joe can call on to insult Elon and Trump. Still, he does make good points, especially around how we sacrifice our younger generations for our older ones.

Galloway gets called upon in the broader “masculinity” space often, usually as an antidote to bro-dog masculinity. I think that mainstream media offers up Galloway, who is tall but a mostly non-threatening white guy, because he’s a “white dude for Harris” who seems virile and tough and economically successful. In the “healthy masculinity” bucket, he gets called upon probably a little less than Richard Reeves, but maybe in that ecosystem.

Alright, well one of Galloway’s big theories on masculinity is that it should be organized around three P-words, those being:

• Provider
• Protector
• Procreator

Those three words are a great start. Honestly, if you end up married and your wife sees you as someone who provides (we usually frame that financially, but it can mean other things), protects (this one is complicated), and “gives” her children (those semantics are fucked), that would be a good life. You may have a hellhole workplace where your boss is Hitler in a suit, but ……