The Masculinist Revival: Christian Nationalism, Patriarchy, and the Politics of Regression

Send us Fan MailToday’s episode is about a movement that has spent years operating on the political and cultural fringe, but is increasingly influencing mainstream conservative politics, religious institutions, online radicalization spaces, and even parts of the federal government. It’s often called the “masculinist” movement — a loose coalition of Christian nationalists, authoritarian traditionalists, online misogynists, white identitarians, and reactionary political influencers united by a common belief: That modern democracy — especially gender equality — has weakened society, undermined men, and must be reversed.The Creation of Patriarchy (Gerda Lerner) — https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-creation-of-patriarchy-9780195051858McKinsey: Diversity Matters Even More (2023) — https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/diversity-matters-even-more-the-case-for-holistic-impact BCG: How Diverse Leadership Teams Boost Innovation (2018) — https://www.bcg.com/publications/2018/how-diverse-leadership-teams-boost-innovation Global Perspectives on DEI in Science (ScienceDirect, 2025) — https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266638642500390X  Ni Una Menos — https://niunamenos.org.ar The Feminization of Resistance: #NiUnaMenos as Social Transformative Action — https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2158379X.2023.2251109 Zapatismo and the Emergence of Indigenous Feminism (NACLA) — https://nacla.org/zapatismo-and-emergence-indigenous-feminism/ Decolonial Feminism and Buen Vivir — https://radicalecologicaldemocracy.org/decolonial-feminism-and-buen-vivir/ Ubuntu: "I Am Because We Are" — https://www.jyu.fi/en/blog/i-am-because-we-are-understanding-the-concept-of-ubuntu Ubuntu as Framework for Collective Wellbeing (Frontiers in Sociology, 2025) — https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sociology/articles/10.3389/fsoc.2025.1555236/full The Invention of Women (Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí) — https://www.upress.umn.edu/9780816624416/invention-of-women/  Haudenosaunee Governance: The Matrilineal Democracy That Shaped America — https://msmagazine.com/2026/03/05/haudenosaunee-government-matrilineal-democracy-america-constitution-native-women/ Indigenous Women's Influence on Modern Democracy and Women's Suffrage (PBS) — https://www.pbs.org/native-america/blog/indigenous-womens-influence-on-modern-democracy-and-womens-suffrage/ Rematriation (Michelle Schenandoah's organization) — https://rematriation.org  The Three Pillars of Radicalization (Kruglanski, Bélanger & Gunaratna) — https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-three-pillars-of-radicalization-9780190851125 Kruglanski et al. (2014) — The Psychology of Radicalization and Deradicalization — https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/pops.12163  Carnegie Endowment: Why Gender Is Central to the Antidemocratic Playbook — https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2024/11/women-lgbtq-democracy-authoritarianism-trump Christian Nationalism in Bolsonaro's Brazil — https://www.christiancentury.org/article/critical-essay/christian-nationalism-thriving-bolsonaro-s-brazil The Evangelical-Populist Nexus and Democratic Risks in Brazil — https://atlasinstitute.org/the-evangelical-populist-nexus-and-democratic-risks-in-brazil/ Christian Nationalism: Brazil to the United States — https://therevealer.org/the-solution-is-jesus-christian-nationalism-from-brazil-to-the-united-states/ SPLC report on Wilson's network — https://www.splcenter.org/resources/reports/doug-wilsons-religious-empire-expanding-northwest/ Who is Doug Wilson? (sourced overview) — https://dougwilsonsays.com/faq/who-is-doug-wilson/ What Pete Hegseth's Spiritual Mentor Wants for America — https://www.thebulwark.com/p/douglas-wilson-pete-hegseth-moscow-idaho-theocracy-dominionism-christian-reconstruction-theonomy Doug Wilson Didn't Change, Evangelical Institutions Did — https://anthonybbradley.substack.com/p/doug-wilson-didnt-change-evangelical  https://terryreal.com https://relationallife.com/working-with-men/ I Don't Want to Talk About It — https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/I-Dont-Want-to-Talk-About-It/Terrence-Real/9780684835396 Us: Getting Past You and Me — https://www.rodalesbooks.com