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. “When you’re asking how to be a man, often the real answer is just how to be a person.”

Read, watch, and listen with the critics:

“Half Man” (2026)
“Magnolia” (1999)
“Fight Club” (1999)
“Heated Rivalry” (2025—)
“‘Heated Rivalry,’ ‘Pillion,’ and the New Drama of the Closet” (The New Yorker)
“Adolescence” (2025)
“DTF St. Louis” (2026)
“The New Masculinity of ‘DTF St. Louis,’ ” by Alexandra Schwartz (The New Yorker)
“Lord of the Flies” (2026)
“Lord of the Flies,” by William Golding
“Can Starting from Scratch Save ‘Vanderpump Rules’?” by Naomi Fry (The New Yorker)
Clavicular’s appearance on “Impaulsive”
“Why So Many Guys Are Obsessed with Testosterone,” by Azeen Ghorayshi (The New York Times)
“Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere” (2026)
“The Pitt” (2025—)

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Critics at Large is a weekly discussion from The New Yorker which explores the latest trends in books, television, film, and more. Join us every Thursday as we make unexpected connections between classic texts and pop culture.

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