The Tudor Dixon Podcast: Young Men, Masculinity, and Restoring Balance

Date: December 15, 2025
Host: Tudor Dixon (with guest Delano Squires)
Podcast: The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show (iHeartPodcasts)

Episode Overview

This episode of The Tudor Dixon Podcast focuses on the current crisis facing young men in America, the evolving role of masculinity, and the need for restoring social and cultural balance between the sexes. Tudor Dixon welcomes Delano Squires, research fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Human Flourishing, for an in-depth discussion about how public policy, social norms, feminism, and political messaging have contributed to the challenges faced by young men today. They also explore the significance of traditional roles, the negative impact of the “gender war,” and how both men and women can contribute to healthier families and communities.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Gender War and Demonization of Masculinity

• Opening Thoughts and the “Gender War”
  • Delano Squires argues that society’s attempt to foment discord between the sexes is damaging for everyone. Both left and right extremes are guilty—whether through radical feminism or hyper-masculinist “red pill” movements.
  • “We cannot have a functioning society or culture if our politics are built on fomenting disdain and discord between the sexes...The gender war politics are failing politics.” (Delano Squires, 03:21)
• Historical Context
  • The left, according to Squires, has spent decades moving from fighting sexism to fighting “masculinity itself.”
  • Squires calls for acknowledging societal wrong turns before addressing policy and cultural remedies.

2. The Androgyny Myth & Importance of Sex Differences

• Personal Parenting Anecdotes
  • Squires shares observations on his own children to highlight innate gender differences and criticizes the cultural push to treat boys and girls as the same.
  • “My sons...would headbutt me...My daughters have never done that...We have accepted quietly the idea of cultural androgyny that men and women are exactly the same.” (07:27-08:30)

3. Shifting Family Roles and Devaluation of Homemaking

• Breadwinning, Homemaking, and Societal Value
  • Tudor and Squires discuss the increasing share of households with women as breadwinners and the decline in valuing traditional roles, especially motherhood and homemaking.
  • “Our society celebrates any woman who runs a large complex organization, unless it’s her home.” (Delano Squires, 12:48)
  • Squires links this trend back to second-wave feminism and argues for restoring dignity to “mother” and “wife.”
• Memorable Quote:
  • “If something goes bump in the night at 2 in the morning...and I turn over to my wife and I say...‘I’m a good male feminist ally, so this time I’ll let you go’...She would be on the phone to a divorce lawyer by tomorrow.” (13:54-14:39)

4. The Double Burden on Modern Women

• Invisible Labor and Silent Stress
  • Dixon shares a viral story of a mother doing “all the Christmas work” to illustrate the expectation for women to be both career executives and family caretakers, often without acknowledgment or help.
  • “This is what women won’t say because we are afraid to admit. It is so hard...because they're doing it all.” (Tudor Dixon, 18:42-20:52)

5. Men’s Uncertainty and Social Backlash

• Young Men’s Reluctance & Social Rules

  • Young men face confusion about appropriate social cues and courtesies due to shifting feminist trends, leading to hesitancy or withdrawal.
  • “I hear so often now, young men saying, I don't know if I should...say, ‘you're beautiful’...They don't know where they stand in this new world of feminism.” (Tudor Dixon, 22:48)

• Critique of Extremes on Both Left and Right

  • Squires analyzes figures like Nick Fuentes to demonstrate how both sides of the gender war harm prospects for constructive male/female relationships (24:29-26:16).

6. Racial Dynamics, Political Parties, and Black Masculinity

• Political Messaging to the Black Community
  • Tudor and Delano examine how progressive politics often prioritize black women and other marginalized identities, leaving black men politically disenfranchised.
  • “When Democrats show up to talk to black women...‘vote for me and I can make you vice president’...to black men, ‘vote for me and I'll keep you from becoming George Floyd.’” (Delano Squires, 30:10-30:41)
  • Squires describes the political alliance between “black feminists and white liberals” as a force that sidelines black men's leadership roles both at home and nationally.
  • Root causes are traced to family breakdown: “70% of black children in this country are born to unmarried parents...to be a black child born to and raised by your married mother and father...is now an exception and not the rule.” (30:10-31:40)

7. Rebuilding Intact Families and Modeling Healthy Gender Roles

• Home as the Starting Point for Change
  • Squires underscores that change starts with modeling by present, engaged fathers. Boys need to see men loving their wives and leading their homes, and daughters need to see examples of the men they should seek as partners.
  • “More is caught than is taught...So first and foremost is me playing my part, my God-given role.” (Delano Squires, 40:34-41:20)

8. Addressing Victimhood Culture and Agency

• Rejection of Victim Mentality for Young Men
  • Both note the rise in victimhood narratives on both political sides, urging young men to take responsibility for what’s within their power.
  • “Authority and responsibility are two sides of the same coin...What we've seen...is the desire for authority, but the rejection of responsibility.” (Delano Squires, 43:42-45:25)
  • Dixon critiques influential figures who sell victimhood as empowerment—pointing out that America offers opportunities that are being concealed by these narratives. (46:42-47:57)

9. Looking Forward

• Restoring Balance and the Hope for Revival
  • Squires is optimistic that as families become more intact, household dynamics and political trends may shift.
  • He invites listeners to follow his work and preview his book, "The Vanishing Black Family," for deeper insights (48:20).

Memorable Quotes & Timestamps

• “We cannot have a functioning society or culture if our politics are built on fomenting disdain and discord between the sexes...The gender war politics are failing politics.”
  — Delano Squires, 03:21

• “Our society celebrates any woman who runs a large complex organization, unless it’s her home.”
  — Delano Squires, 12:48

• “You can have ethnic tension in a country...but I do not know of a single country where it is a single sex country. ...Men and women need each other in ways that different racial groups do not.”
  — Delano Squires, 25:31

• “When Democrats show up to talk to black women, they say, vote for me and I can make you vice president...When they show up to speak to black men, they say, vote for me and I'll keep you from becoming George Floyd. It's a very different message for women, they push leadership, for men, they push protection.”
  — Delano Squires, 30:10

• “More is caught than is taught...So first and foremost is me playing my part, my God-given role.”
  — Delano Squires, 40:34

• “Authority and responsibility are two sides of the same coin...this is a bipartisan, cross ideological problem”
  — Delano Squires, 43:42

Notable Moments & Timestamps

• Male/Female Parenting Differences
  Delano Squires uses headbutting sons vs. communicative daughters as illustration (07:27-08:30)
• Devaluation of Home Life
  Squires on how “mother” and “wife” have been degraded (12:48-14:39)
• Invisible Labor of Women
  Dixon’s viral Christmas story and women’s “invisible” work (18:42-20:52)
• Breadwinning Stats:
  Squires: “50 years ago, about 85% of men were the breadwinner…today about 55%...” (11:39-12:48)
• Political Parties’ Messaging Differences To The Black Community
  (30:10-33:11)

Conclusion

Tudor Dixon and Delano Squires present a critical conversation about masculinity’s current state, the need for society to stop pitting the sexes against each other, and to restore honor to traditional familial roles. They assert that culture, policy, and even political parties have contributed to the erosion of men’s sense of purpose and value. Actionable change, they agree, begins first in the home—with fathers modeling healthy masculinity and families nurturing cooperation and respect. The episode offers a compelling argument against both victimhood culture and gender antagonism, instead advocating for restoration of balance, responsibility, and mutual support—both for individual flourishing and societal stability.