Men need better role models than simps and pimps

As an NFL kicker, Harrison Butker will never be touted as the best player on his team, but the three-time Super Bowl champion is quickly becoming the MVFM (most valuable family man) in professional sports today.

Butker caused a stir online last week with his comments to young women during a college commencement at a small Catholic college in Kansas. But his remarks last year at the Georgia Institute of Technology — his alma mater — prove that he’s no rookie when it comes to expressing his pro-marriage worldview.

Some of the most influential “red pill” personalities are just as anti-family as the most radical pro-abortionists.

Butker told the graduates in the audience that their professional accolades would mean nothing if they were “alone and devoid of purpose.” He went on to encourage them to get married and start a family, while noting how that decision has impacted him personally:

My confidence as a husband and a father and yes, even as a football player, is rooted in my marriage with my wife as we leave our mark on future generations by the children we bring to the world. How much greater of a legacy can anyone leave than that?

Whiny liberals criticized Butker because he was insufficiently reverent to their idols of feminism and careerism. They don’t realize how much men need his pro-family message to counter the bad lessons in masculinity they get daily from simps and pimps.

Strong families require strong men. Mocking women with gender studies degrees, hairy armpits, and septum rings may feel personally fulfilling, but it can’t produce the types of men who are ready, able, and willing to build a life with a wife.

This is why men need good role models who embody the ideals that they promote. In 1980, the median age at first marriage for men was 24. Today, it’s 31. Women have also experienced a similar increase, from 22 in 1980 to 29 today. This means the criticism directed at women about putting off marriage and family also applies to men. In fact, the people who believe in traditional roles and male leadership should be talking even more about the dating and mating habits of men.

Men are the ones who generally initiate romantic relationships and propose marriage. We are responsible for protecting and providing for a family. These are not arbitrary roles created by misogynists who want to keep women in their place. They are duties given to us by the God who designed human beings and defined marriage.

Unfortunately, too many men have bought the “diabolical lies” Butker mentioned in his viral commencement speech. These are the types of men who exclusively use the words “masculinity” and “patriarchy” in a negative connotation, as if there is something inherently deficient about being male.

These are the men who say that other men shouldn’t express opinions about abortion, unless they are promoting it in public.

These are the men who write entire dissertations about misogyny in hip-hop but wouldn’t dare level any criticism of artists like Sexyy Red and Sukihana and the hypersexualized nature of the “whore-hop” subgenre.

But there’s another male archetype on the opposite extreme that also makes forming strong families difficult. Some of the most influential “red pill” personalities are just as anti-family as the most radical pro-abortionists.

The most recognizable name in this genre of online influencers is Andrew Tate, the former kickboxer who was arrested in 2022 on charges of human trafficking and rape. The man known as “Top G” has over 9 million followers on X and has been described as a “webcam pimp.”

One of the most popular podcasts targeting young men is called "Fresh and Fit," a show with the tagline “Transforming Simps to Pimps.” The show frequently features barely dressed women talking about relationships with the show’s two male cohosts. Audio was leaked online with one of the men trying to convince his girlfriend to get an abortion.

Other anti-family messages come from people who encourage young men to put off having a family, sometimes going as far as recommending vasectomies in their 20s so that men can focus on their careers and building wealth.

Some men tell women that they shouldn’t expect monogamy and fidelity from a “high-value” man, while claiming that the potential of divorce is justification for men to forgo marriage altogether.

And just like the feminists who have strategically positioned male allies, these men have female cheerleaders and mouthpieces who are eager to talk about all of the ways women are deficient.

American men are stuck between a rock and a hard place. More and more grow up without strong male figures, whether due to divorce or parents who never married. More live sedentary lifestyles, spending hours on end glued to screens. More have access to pornography that teaches men to value women only for their bodies and conditions men to reject the idea that one woman — let alone a real woman — is enough to satisfy them for a lifetime.

American boys and men also need to know that, despite what some people think, “responsibility” is not a dirty word. In fact, the ability to care for yourself and be accountable for others is what separates boys from men. The ultimate act of manhood is being willing to commit to one woman and the family you create with her.

This is why we need more men willing to lean into the connection between strong men and stable families. They may not all get the attention and praise that professional athletes receive, but the most valuable family man is the one leading his own home.