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Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stonestreet.
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Over the last several decades now, radical feminist ideas have successfully convinced generations of young people that women don't need men, that children should never come before a woman's career, that masculinity is always toxic, that sex is free, and that a woman can do anything a man can do with heels on. As a result, fewer young women aim to be wives or mothers, and many who do are ashamed to admit it. Instead, women have been taught to see the procreative aspects of who they are as problems, not gifts. According to Pew Research, women now account for record shares of chief executive and board positions. But nearly twice as many high school girls as boys say that not enough women are in the workforce. Pew also reports that the number of young women who support abortion continues to increase. In 2024, 76% of young women between the ages of 18 and 29 were pro abortion. And even as more young men and dads seem to be returning to church, more young women and single moms are staying away. And so today, young women who align with feminist ideology are in the majority. They've been taught to put themselves before faith or family. They've been taught that certain vices or virtues, that they are the victims of a male dominated society, and that women, men are their enemies. And now a similar interloper movement is seeking to change the hearts and minds of men, just as the sexual revolution did for women. In one sense, this movement is a reaction to the excesses of COVID lockdowns, the MeToo movement, and DEI. It's a movement an awful lot like feminism, just for men. A growing segment of Gen Z males, particularly among those who lean conservative, are now following extremist influencers who teach that vices are virtues, that men are victims, and that women are their enemies. For example, there's Andrew Tate and his chest thumping, self focused, hyper masculinity. More recently, especially in the wake of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, Nick Fuentes has gained the market share of lost boys who are looking to believe in something. Fuentes focuses on national political and racial preservation with a call to burn the rest of it down. His is a Nietzschean kind of call to power, which involves Jew hatred, the mocking and threatening of women, and allegiance only to white American before it was taken down for violating hate speech policies. Fuentes America first was the number one trending podcast on Spotify. His followers, known as Grapers, are growing even though Fuentes was also deplatformed by YouTube and Apple, his live stream following the assassination of Kirk attracted over two and a half million views. Recently, another podcaster, Liam DeBoer, attempted to explain the Fuentes phenomenon. And I quote, nick Fuentes is the end product of a decade that told a generation of young men that their very being was a problem to be solved. The deal once made to men, work hard, earn respect was torn up. In its place came scorn. When every fair complaint from a moderate was branded as hate speech, many stopped trying to prove their innocence. For years, moderates believed debate could bridge the divide. But when Kirk was gunned down, a dark realization set in. These people were celebrating blood. That's when many young men realized, if you can murder someone for talk, then there's nothing left to talk about. Fuentes rose in this void, not as a mastermind, but as a symbol of what happens when shame and exclusion curdle into fury. End quote. Now, of course, fallen people, especially young men, are quick to accept explanations that excuse their own sin and treat them as victims. That's all part of Fuentes's appeal. But a bigger part here is that there's a group of young men who believe that life has no meaning, no moral structure. They're looking for identity and finding it in all the wrong places. Given the popularity of this movement, pastors and parents have to be talking to young men. They need to be asking them who they're following. They need to know what their vision is for being a man. The biblical vision of masculinity is big. It's focused outward to loving God, protecting others, caring for families, working, providing, defending the weak, looking after widows and the fatherless, leaving things better than they were found. That stands in stark contrast to this new vision of the perpetually adolescent male, one that mocks everything and neither builds nor defends anything. It's built on outrage and frustration, which, though often can be appropriate, cannot offer a vision for life. Rather, what this vision offers is essentially feminism for men. It's going to cause as much damage to them as its counterpart has to women. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stonestreet with Breakpoint. Today's Breakpoint was co authored with Hayley Wilson. If you're a fan of Breakpoint, leave us a review wherever you download your podcast. And for more resources to live like a Christian Today, go to BreakPoint.org.
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Tickets are nearly sold out for the 2026 Colson Center National Conference this May in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you want to be there now is the time to claim your spot. Our theme is you are here. We'll think about what it looks like to live out our Christian calling in this cultural moment with the help amazing speakers like Os Guinness, Claire Morel, Frank Turek, Chloe Cole and more. As a Christian, you're here to do more than exist or survive. You can be confident you're called to this moment for God's purpose. Register now@colsonconference.org that's colsonconference.org.