Jeremey Clarkson Has White Male Age Panic

Clarkson knows his standing in male dominance culture is faltering.

Recently, a major British media outlet published an incredible nasty editorial about Meghan Markle by Jeremy Clarkson. Almost immediately, some on social media began saying Clarkson has gone a little too far, but that he’s “an entertainer.” This either intentionally or unintentionally seeks to hide how hate and incitement to violence moves through culture. A joke here. A rant there. All of which is meant to send a warning to women, to Black people, to immigrants that they need to be careful. So, calling BS on that.

But the question also arises, why is Clarkson’s statement so explicitly hateful? That answer is on display all around us. Clarkson has white male age panic.  In coining the term white male age panic, I'm pointing to the very specific way that aging impacts men who's success has been rooted in the bullying and power-over performances of dominance-based masculine culture. 

After a lifetime in our dominance-based Man Box culture of masculinity, a culture which trains boys and men out of authentic emotional expression and connection, Clarkson knows his standing in the dominance hierarchy is dependent solely on continuing displays of dominance, such as having lots of sex, making lots of money, bullying those around him, but he’s aging out.

Older while men like Clarkson struggle to remain relevant in our hyper-ageist Man Box culture. Any sign of weakness, and our dominance culture turns on older men. We become the target for younger men’s dominance displays.

So, the older white men who remain committed to dominance culture, begin to panic, expressing their dominance in ever more extreme ways, leading to overt displays of white and male supremacy and Christian nationalism. Trump displays this same white male age panic as do most older white men in the Republican Party. Trump is becoming ever more wildly strident in his extremism, in his attacks on other politicians in the GOP, as he seeks to maintain his dominance-based status.

White male age panic: Older white men who have leaned heavily on bullying and dominance to succeed, double down on ever more extreme sexism and racism to validate their masculinity as their bodies age, as their careers begin to falter, as the younger wolves start closing in.

White male age panic is why so many older white men signal dominance by supporting the extremism of the GOP. It's why suicide rates are so high for older white men. They see they are losing status in Man Box culture and that panic becomes more than they can live with. Meanwhile, our culture shifts toward extremism, all because some older white men don’t know what life is without the power to dominate others.

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Millions of men have broken out of dominance-based masculine culture because we have come to understand that dominance based masculine culture is an isolating death spiral. Our healthy masculinity books, podcasts, videos and other resources are here: http://linktr.ee/RemakingManhood