Men brandish “baby girls” as another tool for social control. VOGUE TAIWAN and MINERVA97 CC provided by Wikimedia Commons
Wake up! That’s a grown man!
Sometimes, randomly, I’m so overwhelmed with memories of Harry Styles wearing a dress during his solo performance in America in November 2020 that I raise my fist and curse at the sky. trend cover.
In the fight for all that is good in modern culture, in the wake of the suffering of the pandemic and the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd, trend The cover felt like another battle lost at a critical moment in our social conscience. As a statement, it felt and looked like a nod to reducing queerness to an aesthetic, a lifestyle, or an artistic choice. It was like Stonewall to queerbaiting men and the baby girl movement. Something groundbreaking, a door opening, a table shaking.
Modern society has a masculine, mostly heterosexual male body that is widely accepted as desirable and who seem comfortable enough to play with gender rules and their expression through their fashion choices and public persona. There is a common, strange fascination with men. We’ve seen these men walk the red carpet wearing bright colors, lace, and sequins, and rocking makeup and glittery nail polish. They have been spotted carrying Bottega Veneta purses, Vivienne Westwood necklaces, and other traditional women’s clothing. They’re not afraid to smile or be shy in front of the camera, exuding a sensitivity and gentleness that’s as crisp and tailored as the designer clothes they wear. These are our baby girls.
It was like Stonewall to queerbaiting men and the baby girl movement. Something groundbreaking, a door opening, a table shaking.
Harry Styles, Jacob Elordi, Timothée Chalamet, Omar Apollo, Manu Rios, numerous K-pop idols, Henry Cavill, and apparently even Drake. We somehow perceive them as openly vulnerable and submissive and admire them for it.
Why do we love these people? Maybe they’re just attractive people who are at the forefront of their field. A role model who shows that there is safety in masculinity by embodying a feminine atmosphere. Perhaps we are drawn to the sheer depth and complexity of their public personas, or the simple spectacle of straight-laced men performing a farce of feminine sensibilities. It’s a similar attraction to watching a 6-foot-tall clown play with balloon animals or watching the zoo’s enchanted creatures wander around the cage.
What pisses me off most about our culture’s baby girl obsession with men is that this seductive desire doesn’t extend to overtly feminine men. Throughout history, gay men and men before A$AP Rocky wore skirts or Drake wore colorful clips in his hair, trans women and other I have suffered alongside queer people.
Our obsession with “baby girl” men has nothing to do with their gentle embrace of femininity and everything to do with maintaining masculinity and muscularity despite this femininity. I noticed that it seems like it is. The way I see it, these baby girl men are not in touch with their feminine side, they have learned to control it, dominated it, and now use it as another for social control. Whether intentionally or innocently, they are wielding it as a tool. the benevolent object of mass heteronormative desire. This baby man and his success in making us worship him, coddle him, and infantilize him has puzzled me for far too long.
For example, in 2022, Johnny Depp was seen cuddling a badger at a rescue center after winning a defamation lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard. During court proceedings, he was caught doodling on a piece of paper with colorful markers and showing it to his lawyer, like a child expecting a small reward in return. On several occasions, he displayed a pile of gummy bears on his court desk. Johnny Depp was truly a baby girl in this regard.
Depp was such a baby that his fans camped outside the courthouse to show support. People brought live alpacas to court to “brighten” Depp’s day. They tweeted about how cute he looked behind his designer sunglasses and how they wanted to hug him and tell him everything was going to be okay. They laughed at Depp, who imagined Heard’s death as punishment for calling her daughter an abuser, and savored her death like a delicious soup. They called her a gold digger. A self-righteous and manipulative con artist. Fake scream. Crazy bitch. bad wife And the bastard who finally got what she asked for. Depp’s fans stood beside him and celebrated the baby girl’s victory over the witch who tried to devour him.
I believe that by turning these men into babies, we risk enabling bad behavior, terrible behavior, and even worse. All because we think of these men as adorable, harmless projections of charm. The more we elevate this image, the more this fantasy of masculinity risks erasing the stories of people built on real experiences.
Harry Styles makes good enough music, looks good enough, and looked good enough in a Gucci dress on a magazine cover trend. But queer people who have broken down the door of gender reassignment so that seemingly straight white men and their supposed allies can wear their skin and walk in their shoes. What did it say about people?
Divine Angubua is a third-year student at UTM studying history, political science, and creative writing.He is the editor-in-chief of With caffeine and careful thought staff writer Moderate. He is the next comment editor. national team.