Conservatives Are Self-Combusting Because Harry Styles Wore A Dress
"If Harry Styles wearing a dress threatens your manhood, you were never really a man to begin with."
While conservatives in Australia bitch and moan about some racist little lollies getting a much-needed name change, American right-wing nuts are up in arms about Harry Styles wearing a dress.
Over the weekend, Vogue shared images from their December issue with their first male cover star, where Harry Styles graced the cover in a dress. During the interview, Styles spoke at length about how he has an interest in, and finds joy in, clothes for both men and women, and doesn’t care much for these barriers.
“I’ll go in shops sometimes, and I just find myself looking at the women’s clothes thinking they’re amazing,” he said in the interview. “There’s so much joy to be had in playing with clothes. I’ve never really thought too much about what it means — it just becomes this extended part of creating something.”
“Now I’ll put on something that feels really flamboyant, and I don’t feel crazy wearing it,” Styles continued.. “Clothes are there to have fun with and experiment with and play with. What’s really exciting is that all of these lines are just kind of crumbling away.”
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In response, feeling attacked by something that had absolutely nothing to do with her, which seems like a favourite pastime of conservatives, right-wing poster child Candace Owens decided to weigh in on the matter to complain about the “feminisation of our men”.
“There is no society that can survive without strong men. The East knows this,” Owens incorrectly tweeted. “In the west, the steady feminisation of our men at the same time that Marxism is being taught to our children is not a coincidence. It’s an outright attack.”
“Bring back manly men,” she continued to sook.
There is no society that can survive without strong men. The East knows this. In the west, the steady feminization of our men at the same time that Marxism is being taught to our children is not a coincidence.
It is an outright attack.Bring back manly men. https://t.co/sY4IJF7VkK
— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) November 14, 2020
Equally as annoying, the infamously shit, WAP-hating, right-wing troll, Ben Shapiro also felt the need to add his two cents in, too.
Joining in on all the unnecessary noise about the singer, Shapiro called Harry Styles wearing a dress during a photoshoot to be a “referendum on masculinity”, and called anyone who didn’t see that a “full-on idiot”.
This is perfectly obvious. Anyone who pretends that it is not a referendum on masculinity for men to don floofy dresses is treating you as a full-on idiot. https://t.co/cioUNBh4bi
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) November 16, 2020
Similarly, under Vogue’s original tweet, other conservatives tweeted their concern about Styles “humiliating” himself with the “insulting” and “absolutely insane and demonic” idea of *checks notes* wearing a literal piece of clothing. A piece of clothing, that men have historically worn through a number of cultures.
Men Wearing Dresses Is Actually Very Common
Beyond these conservative critiques being just so incredibly stupid, the complaints are rooted in toxic masculinity and the rejection of freedom of expression. But worst of all, they’re just incorrect, specifically Candace Owens ignorant claims that the East, and men of the past, had “manly men”, who never wore dresses.
Men wearing dresses is an important part of many cultures. In Lapland, both Sámi men and women wear kolts, and in Bhutan it’s mandatory that everyone wears the national dress — a knee-length gown called a gho or kira.
In Scotland, the kilt is an important part of Scottish tradition and culture. Even religiously, cassock gowns are commonly worn by clergymen of Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches.
Plus, even in a Western society on a pop culture level, the critique of Harry Styles ignores that icons like Prince, David Bowie and Freddie Mercury also all wore dresses during their careers.
Totally get why people are outraged about Harry Styles dressing outside the prescribed gender conventions. Never used to happen in the old days with no-nonsense old-fashioned men like David Bowie and Marc Bolan and Elton John and Boy George and Freddie Mercury.
— Matt Haig (@matthaig1) November 16, 2020
Candace Owens is 50 years behind on culture and education. Here's Iggy Pop, David Bowie, and Kurt Cobain all cross dressing. The list of other men in music doing the same is very long. The trend started around 1970 and went into other culture like sports. Welcome to 1970. pic.twitter.com/YkxRcasIoH
— Simon Gloom (@simongloom) November 16, 2020
Then if we want to focus on political leaders, we just need to look at The Portrait of Henry VIII by Hans Holbein the Younger, which literally depicts King Henry VIII in a dress and the photo of a young President Franklin D. Roosevelt that shows a two-year-old FDR in a dress in 1884.
But for arguments sakes, say men wearing dresses wasn’t historically accurate, Owens is still a hypocrite. If Harry Styles wearing a dress is upsetting because it “feminises men” and challenges typical gender roles, why is it that she, as a woman, can wear a suit without issue? Are suits not something that is also “traditionally” a male piece of clothing?
exhibit A: candace owens gets very upset about harry styles wearing article of clothing not typically intended for his gender
exhibit B: candace owens wears suit pic.twitter.com/wwJVKEOdBw
— matt (@mattjbernstein) November 16, 2020
None of it really makes much sense, but Candace Owens simply doesn’t care.
Even after the right-wing author was called out for her incorrect and just generally bad take, she tweeted that she meant what she said with “bring back manly men”.
“Terms like ‘toxic masculinity’ were created by toxic females,” Owens continued. “Real women don’t do fake feminism. Sorry I’m not sorry.”
The World Is Still Rallying Behind Harry Styles
Even with Candace Owens equally terrible follow-up tweet, Harry Styles fans and fellow celebrities quickly rallied behind the singer and came to the artists defence.
In response to Candace Owens’ original tweet, Olivia Wilde simply called the right-wing pundit “pathetic”, while Lord of the Rings’ Elijah Wood questioned Candace Owens’ understanding of what masculinity means.
“I think you’ve missed the definition of what a man is. Masculinity alone does not make a man,” Woods tweeted. “In fact, it’s got nothing to do with it.”
Also joining in to defend the singer, Jameela Jamil noted that Harry Styles is “plenty manly because manly is whatever you want it to be, not what some insecure, toxic, woman-hating, homophobic dickheads decided it was hundreds of years ago”.
Similarly, Scrubs actor, Zach Braff, tweeted an image of Styles in his dress alongside the caption: “Our whole lives boys and men are told we need to be manly. Life is short. Be whatever the fuck you want to be”.
The Harry Styles stans, meanwhile, focused their attention on doing what stans do best: Absolutely dunking on Shapiro, Owens, and their misguided idea that they can dictate what someone can and cannot wear.
ben shapiro: “bring back masculinity”
ben shapiro: harry styles: pic.twitter.com/vZuxg8S1B8
— haley tucker (@tuckerhaleyy) November 16, 2020
This whole discussion about men in dresses and masculinity is stupid.
There's a guy in the White House who wears tons of makeup, lifts in his shoes, and a girdle.
But what makes him least masculine is his prolonged crybaby act while he refuses to admit defeat.
— BrooklynDad_Defiant! (@mmpadellan) November 16, 2020
Imagine hearing 5’3” Ben Shapiro lecture you on masculinity lmfao https://t.co/st75IinD72
— Joel (@joelgoldstein75) November 16, 2020
If Harry Styles wearing a dress threatens your manhood, you were never really a man to begin with.
— Ari Solomon (@VeganAri) November 16, 2020
Ben Shapiro on his way to protect his masculinity pic.twitter.com/HRVAdTvZle
— 🌽🌽Erica, the white trash socialist🌽🌽™️ (@herosnvrdie69) November 16, 2020
it makes me so happy that ben shapiro is terrified of harry styles in a dress
— Vincent Martella (@VinMan17) November 16, 2020
People are really pressed that we all think Harry Styles is hot.
— Danielle Sepumpkin pie (@ellesep) November 16, 2020
i can not believe this app is free pic.twitter.com/LGe4gzkvmI
— most hated gianna²⁸ ᴴ | re hate account (@canyonmoonotb) November 16, 2020
i was prepared to go to civil war to defend democracy but i guess im gonna have to go to war to defend harry styles wearing a dress
— Matt Bellassai (@MattBellassai) November 16, 2020
Can't believe Candace Owens is having such a meltdown over realizing she'll never get to have sex with Harry Styles, when the rest of us have accepted it with dignity and grace !
— Gabrielle Moss (@Gaby_Moss) November 16, 2020
republicans are mad that harry styles wore a dress……… pic.twitter.com/xxZoKxqEnB
— 💛OWEN💛 (@xowenm) November 16, 2020
People forget that men used to wear makeup, wigs, & little ballerina shoes made of wood. Masculinity seemed to be intact back then. They wrote the Constitution & gave each other syphilis. Harry Styles doesn’t even have syphilis (I think) so why are we mad at him?!
— Joe Santagato (@JoeSantagato) November 16, 2020
God bless the stans.