The joyful Minnesota governor is a valuable spokesperson for Harris whose background and personality can help the Democratic ticket undermine Trumpās efforts to woo Americaās men.
Tim WalzāsĀ first official speechĀ on the Democratic ticket displayed all the reasons thatĀ Kamala HarrisĀ has been lauded for picking the Minnesota governor as her running mate. Personally, I think one outshines all the rest.
Walzās military background and his work as a high school teacher and football coach, along with his palpable joy andĀ open expressions of compassion for people in need, offer America a vision of what manhood can look like ā heās a ājoyful warriorā offering a vision in contrast with whatās being offered by Donald Trumpās bravado-driven campaign.
And heās clearly willing to challenge Team Trump on that front. He displayed that even before he received the call to join Harrisā campaign, using public appearances to refer to Trump and his allies asĀ ābulliesā who are truly weak at heartĀ and by mocking the GOP ticket for ārunning for He-Man Women Haters Club or something.ā
Most media outlets wouldnāt treat him that way because he has a husband, sexist coverage would ensure people only focus on how heās violating masculine norms instead of portraying his masculinity as legitimate.
Thatās probably true. But heās doing it anyway. I donāt even like the guy but thatās pretty manly going in the face of adversity like that.
And the outlets heās going on arenāt challenging him. Theyāre just giving him a platform. It seems like for the most part (except when he goes on Fox, but thatās not āmainstreamā) the media outlets are totally accepting Pete Buttigieg is a form of manly. I think weāre actually having a national dialog right now about what it means to be manly. Even this years big pop culture moment of Kendrick v Drake has centered around what it means to be a man (at least in part) with the winning side saying what it means to be a man is to live authentically and not to perform masculinity. I get where the thread starter is coming from that we shouldnāt need this national dialog, because we should be treating people as people and not as totems, but American politics and media culture are intrinsically totemic in nature and so we have to have these national dialogs every so often even if the majority is already advanced beyond that. The fact is that people awaken to truths slower than others because of the cultural context they exist in, and right now the feminist and menās liberation movement have a major opportunity to take center stage and show what preferred pronouns, gender identity, and acceptance are about.
Itās positive but he isnāt being portrayed as manly or daddy the way Tim Walz is, though, and I do think that comes down to sexism - specifically patriarchal heterocisnormativity. Heās gets to be a model minority, thatās it.
I will take this into advisement and speak more openly about Pete Buttigieg being manly