Where Do Men Go from Here?

Where Do Men Go from Here?

From Critics at Large | The New Yorker by The New Yorker

May 21, 2026 · 51 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the crisis facing men today, exploring themes of toxic masculinity and emotional health through various cultural texts.

The phrase “toxic masculinity,” deployed ad nauseum over the past decade, now borders on cliché, but the fact that men are in some kind of crisis feels beyond dispute. Statistics on boys’ prospects are bleak, showing falling graduation rates, diminished employment opportunities, and dismal mental-health outcomes. Meanwhile, the manosphere has fanned the flames of these discontents. The question of what’s to be done is more pressing than ever. On this episode of Critics at Large, Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz consider a new wave of texts that aims to diagnose men’s ills, and to offer a path forward. The men in these works fall, broadly, into two lanes: the damaged, sometimes violent types who are front and center in such series as Richard Gadd’s “ Half Man ,” and the softer, more emotionally attuned protagonists of shows like “Heated Rivalry” and “DTF St. Louis.” But this tidy schematic falls apart in real life—and, as looksmaxxers have taught us, obsessing over models of manhood may only compound the problem. “Usually, if I’m thinking about being a man , it is in a self-reproving or self-indicting way that is not helpful to the situation,” Cunningham says…

People in this episode

Host: Vinson Cunningham

Guests: Naomi Fry, Alexandra Schwartz

Topics covered

  • toxic masculinity
  • men's crisis
  • mental health
  • graduation rates
  • employment opportunities
  • manhood
  • emotional attunement

Keywords

  • toxic masculinity
  • men's crisis
  • mental health
  • graduation rates
  • employment
  • manhood
  • emotional health

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Half Man, Heated Rivalry, DTF St. Louis, Fight Club, Magnolia

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