It didn’t start out this way, but the #MeToo movement, coupled with third-wave feminism, wants to eradicate the significant role men have in society. This is not only obvious, but sad and dangerous — not to mention misleading for boys. Are women so insecure in their radicalism, so blindsided in their continued quest for equal rights, they must silence men completely?

In a press conference on Tuesday, Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, said in regards to the unsubstantiated accusation that Judge Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted a woman: "Men need to shut up and step up. Do the right thing for a change."

[Related: Female Senate Democrats tell male GOP colleagues to ‘shut up’ and ‘do the right thing’]





This appears to not only be true about what progressives think of Kavanaugh and Republican senators, but all men. This is a travesty not just for men but also women — who do actually need men, even if they don’t realize it.

Of course, this attempt to eradicate men has been at play for some time. In Hanna Rosin’s landmark 2010 piece “The End of Men,” the intro reads:



"Earlier this year, women became the majority of the workforce for the first time in U.S. history. Most managers are now women too. And for every two men who get a college degree this year, three women will do the same. For years, women’s progress has been cast as a struggle for equality. But what if equality isn’t the end point? What if modern, postindustrial society is simply better suited to women?"



So as time has progressed, women have progressed too. With that progression, men have been earning fewer degrees, upping their housework at home, and slowly trying to placate this new wave of zealous women who don’t want or need them. The result is that while some men are growing quiet, and some of them are supplicating, the rest are confused, restless, and likely angry.

In the wake of the Kavanaugh accusation, many things have stood out, but particularly this irony: Women want the freedom of sex and the eradication of men, but the propriety that existed between men and women circa 19th century England. Angry, demanding, vile women don’t teach men to man up — strong, healthy, masculine men do. Men teach other men to protect and provide because it’s often innate. They don’t do so at the heartless, cold demands of annoying women.

But women today want men to shut up and they also, as Hirono said, want them to step up. Men cannot, in effect, do both. We cannot, as C.S. Lewis said, “castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.” Whether women like it or not, or want to admit it or not, men are the cornerstone of society in many ways. They build, protect, and provide. They make up the majority of all jobs in law enforcement, military, construction, and engineering and science fields. This is not because these fields are sexist, but because men are willing and able to do them — they align with a man’s innate strengths.

Of course, men also make mistakes; they are flawed. Men are far more aggressive than women, they commit more crimes, including rape and murder. This is not because of toxic masculinity, but a lack of healthy masculinity. As I told my son recently, weak boys hit girls and weak men hit women. Real men show strength in ways that differ from women and weak men show strength in ways that looks a lot like an abuse of power — physically, emotionally, and metaphorically.

Still, using the accusation against Kavanaugh to usher in this continued bid to end all male influence in America is as sad as it is absurd. What are we showing our sons? That they are unwanted and unnecessary unless they shut up but somehow man up? Women must decide if they really want to usher in the end of men, if they are willing to bear the cost of that decision, and on whom will they foist the responsibilities that were previously given to men.

Nicole Russell (@russell_nm) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner's Beltway Confidential blog. She is a journalist who previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota.