"The Menaissance" by Brett McKay - Ignite Tulsa

[antoshahorosha]

Bringing sexy back since 1800's.

[NLFonsseals]

This is great. I'm not the only man who agrees with this, and there's a movement for it!

[EdwardTheNutsOne]

Don Draper = GOD

[PoliticalWeekly]

@EdwardTheNutsOne

Draper= asshole, cheating prick, unfair boss until season 3 and 4, bribed daughter with beatles, engaged to woman he hardly knew.

[matias7anriquez]

Hi, I'm a 3rd year advertising student from Chile, and my teacher gives us a homework (a big one indeed), with your blog as a subject of analyze, we had to get the profile of the MENAISSANCE guy, it was hard as fuck btw.

i loved your blog and this philosophy, and this presentation of course

NO MORE 6 PACK ASSHOLES !!!

[MRMEEW]

@matias7anriquez ur saying that because you don't have a 6 pack abs? that's sad,boy:)

[matias7anriquez]

@MRMEEW No, im not fat and stuff, but i rather workout on my brain, "boy" ;)

[MRMEEW]

@matias7anriquez hehe,that's a stupid excuse,no offence. that's how you guys say"i'm weak,i can't go to gym and workout so that i will look great,and feel great"? you know what? if you are good,you can work your brain AND your body. not only your brain,but stil,i think that's sad. again,no offence :)

[matias7anriquez]

@MRMEEW Dont mind, i'm no taking offence, but its sad the fact that you think that the only way to work out your body its on the gym, i really think you should consider to workout on your brain, no offence :)

[pqwilrj]

Hell yeah! Tell your friends about this video.

[JtotheIza]

Anyone who doesn't agree with this fall into the first three lame excuses for manliness. Men have stopped taking control; being responsible; taking care of your family and being that sound rock and dependent that everyone can count on. We can see a negative trend of male students that enter and graduate college; and status in the work force. Look it up. There shouldn't be any greater words then when your kid says "When I grow up, I want to be like my dad". Great Plot, Great speech!.

[leeshep]

Mad Men viewing and Free Mason membership = piss poor examples of Manliness.

Better ones would be burning your TV and jacking this dude for his wallet outside the Hilton where he's speaking.

Go back to Harvard douche bag

[leeshep]

Mad Men viewing and Free Mason membership = piss poor examples of Manliness.

Better ones would be burning your TV and jacking this dude for his wallet outside the Hilton where he's speaking.

Go back to Harvard douchebag

[sacradictus]

how ridiculous! LOL! Is this a Stephen Colbert report joke????????

[crypter27]

I'm a mens rights activist,so true I'm glad theres a Menaissance!

[nickdubya1215]

tweed is definitely manly. brett knows whats up.

[martthesling]

good substance but clearer speech flow and some sharper points.

[RetinendParadox]

RESPECT... THE COCK

[canadiancat420]

This is exactly the cultural revolution the man-boy needs! I've already started to embrace the Retrosexual by tapping into the here and now, it's alright to ask 'how do you feel?' You needn't be frightened by the answers...embrace what is good for all men: be authentic! Hell Yeah!

[xericjath]

how ironic that he had a slip when he accidentally described (and embarassingly supressed) the dirty-job show as stereotypes of masculinity. what a douche

[kandlaker]

Sexism and Homophobia it NOT and NEVER came from "men only" but from BOTH sexes. Women can be extremely very racist, sexist and/or homophobic not less than men! Just like the good things - women can be bad, ugly and cruel not less than men. That's a FACT.

[kmg4]

Feminism is the most evil ideology in the world today.

[noncroyant]

What does this faggot know about masculinity?

[BillAndInna]

Epic fail. If American men want to reclaim their masculinity they won't do it by putting on a suit. We need to rollback the anti-male laws in this country; i.e., IMBRA, rape shield laws, sexual harassment. We need to free ourselves from control over our sexuality by legalizing prostitution. We need to make marriage a good deal for men by giving men 50/50 custody and prosecuting and jailing women who lie about abuse. Remaking our society means that we must stop being chivalrous dupes.

[smitty1e]

Jesus (seriously).

[DefiantKembro]

Hype. Suits, handsome, the outdoors, barbershops...these things never went out of style. More attempt to repackage old things to get people to spend money. Retrosexual, metrosexual...it's all consumerist hype. Masculinity is not that complicated.

[LedOutMan]

It has nothing to do with disowning these values.

It has everything to do with taking these values away from being a good man, to being a good person. Furthermore, there is no reason why a man can't in his spare time, take interest in video games or his abs, and still be a successful human being.

Also the blanket statements in your post are ridiculous.

[jimmmmie]

Good speech, except that Freemasonry is a wacky religious cult. Also, opposing homosexuality as an extremely unhealthy lifestyle doesn't make me a "homophobe" (I'm not afraid of homosexuals).

[drewby613]

An interesting question is the only failure of the greatest generation--its failure to replicate itself. Remember, the slide started well before the '60's. Witness all the "dumb dad" shows of the '50's. Or, if you prefer, Dr. Spock, who was a disaster. Why did the greatest generation fall for such bunkum? My favorite book on this topic, by Diana West, The Death of The Grownup, hints at this question, but doesn't answer it. My guess is that they had seen too much awful stuff.

[missbmuss]

Slow dowwwwnnnn........your grandfather wouldn't be rushing through his presentation. Otherwise, great speech.

[krishnakvinf]

There is nothing biblical or Christian about the image of manhood as portrayed by Brett. It has nothing to do with religion but more to do with the inner strength and fiber of the person. There are role models to look up to for this in all religions of the world and equally in atheism, its truly religion agnostic.

[HereIamWhatNow]

True masculinity can be achieved through recognizing that biblical manhood is valuable and desirable. If young males want to learn how to be true men, they must base their manhood on biblical truth and nothing else.

[Useless2112]

@HereIamWhatNow Not really, though. You're tacking a religious point onto a cultural movement. That isn't manly, that's sneaky and pathetic.

[HereIamWhatNow]

@Useless2112, You simply misunderstand me. The guy in the video is trying to solve a spiritual problem through cultural means alone. It was because of Christianity (call it religion if you want) that masculinity was expressed the way it was in our culture years back. If we want that kind of masculinity to return, we must return to the foundation of that masculinity, i.e. - Christianity. (Btw, I wasn't trying to be sneaky.)

[StanierBlack5LMS]

Totally agree with this gentleman. I'm young, a Mason, and definitely manly and old fashioned. I've been a retrosexual as long as I can remember. TR has always been my favorite American. Break out the Tux, Brandy, and Cigars, after a wonderful dinner dance with your lady in her evening gown. Life doesn't get any better.

[LedOutMan]

Yay let's all embrace backwards thinking!

[bws1971]

@LedOutMan If backward thinking includes men getting jobs, laying off the video games and worrying less about their hair than about their character, then backward thinking is the way to go -- except that it isn't, because you have (not-so-cleverly) attempted to characterize something timeless as backward. Embrace your comment FAIL, @LedOutMan, and try on the notion that not everything in the past is backward.

[LedOutMan]

@bws1971 Right. Have a read on post-genderism and then tell me what you think. The sooner we get rid of gender associations the better.

[bws1971]

@LedOutMan Your response is so predictable, I could have written it myself; in fact, even as I typed my own comment a few minutes ago, I imagined your response resembling something along the lines of what you wrote.

[bws1971]

@LedOutMan I am aware of, and very much familiar with the thinking behind, post-genderism. Ironically, it is yet one more reason we so badly need this Menaissance, which is already well underway, thankfully. Besides, what we've managed to manifest these past 50 years or so is not the riddance of gender associations, but instead, the insistence not only that women can and must take on the characteristics of the traditional male, but also that men must disown these very same characteristics. Nuts.

[LedOutMan]

Manliness is not objective. And it's definition has changed countless times, and the values presented in this video, is not something we should necessarily aspire to.

It was an idiotic video.

[TrollSturm]

@LedOutMan

And you're a feminized twat.

[theprovocateur91]

My fiance has been into AoM for about a year and he had shown me the idea of it. I admire manliness... And it really is an art. Not only art for art's sake, but the one we really need in day-to-day life :)

[pleatherforbreakfast]

The only tragedy here is that horrid suit he's wearing.

[GStott]

@pleatherforbreakfast He's not wearing a suit. He's wearing a sportcoat and a pair of trousers.

[pleatherforbreakfast]

@GStott It's still horrid. The entire video is just the ramblings of a middle-aged homophobe.

[herbelizerbunny]

@pleatherforbreakfast

did you watch the video? he denounced homophobia and sexism several times.

you are just butthurt because of the word metrosexual

[pleatherforbreakfast]

@herbelizerbunny

He spends the entire video chastising feminine men and then "denounces" homophobia once in the last ten seconds.

And please, I could care less he used the word metrosexual. I'm more concerned how he thought up the term "manboy" lmfao.

[TrollSturm]

@pleatherforbreakfast

Shut the fuck up faggot.

[TrollSturm]

@pleatherforbreakfast

You're a heterophobe.

[JunkTapes]

@pleatherforbreakfast Can you please clarify what constitutes being "middle-aged"? The speaker in this video is probably only 30 years old (or younger). You sound like you don't know what you're talking about.

[LatumWay]

Meh... I'm a little shakey on this. I mean, in my opinion, positive masculinity should be unstated. Guys who walk around explicitly doing things to prove themselves seem facile and insecure to me. I totally agree that masculinity shouldn't be denigrated and maligned like it is in so many sitcoms and TV adverts but this seems just a touch reactionary.

Meh. Whutevs. I don't really care either way. I AM WHAT I AM hahaha...

[cibechen]

AMEN. Men should be men, but not assholes. Thank you for this!

[nightatnight]

He missed the pacification of male children in our schools system. The effort to nullify gender roles in society has gone to the extreme and must be stopped.

[Afflacredm3]

WELL SAID MY GOOD SIR!!!

[normanthepig]

I  can't tell if he's being serious or satirical through much of this.

[dannn28]

@normanthepig hes serious

[wakeupscreaming]

"The retrosexual has no problem with independent and strong women"... It would seem to be a contradiction. Or maybe he's just playing it safe in this "pussy-whipped" contempary society we live in now, so he wouldn't get complaints.

[762x51n8o]

The question is whether or not men are acting like men again, or are we just dressing the part? Are males doing outdoor thing, getting dirty, like camping, hiking fishing, hunting? Or just dressing like we do but still going out to sip lattes? Also, men mentor their sons. They take them fishing, they take them to ball games. They introduce them to manly, masculine things. Those other things are fine -- I enjoy a good symphony, wine tastings. But our nature as men is toward masculine things

[FlickerEdge]

Awesome.

[Sapientiores]

I simply love The Art of Manliness! It's a useful site with a great message, and I've recommended it to all my male friends. It's unfortunate that there isn't an equivalent site dedicated to 'retrosexuality' for women like myself. I'd be glad to embrace vintage femininity if I knew how. :)

[forrbrown]

You state that the Menaissance is about holding men to their higher standard - to making them the best rounded men that they can be. Do you think it is beneficial for men to go back to the traditional form of masculinity because others (like you in this case) say so? Personally, that sounds petty and weak. Where are we if the options we have in life are classified by what was traditionally accepted. As Amartya Sen says - Development is Freedom. I say- dress nice, take leadership, and go to a spa

[poopsix]

Ha! He gives evidence, and everywhere says it's his opinion and also a zeitgeist amongst modern men. If you don't like it, feel free to be a wuss.

[DannyGrowth]

I think there is something to be said for his message against the trend of trying to dissuade men against these more traditional masculine activities simply because they're traditional.

[jarlarthas666]

this guy is soo true WHAT THE F HAPPEND TO MEN THESE DAYS every time somebody sees me hunting\at the firing range\or in dress uniform the first word out of there pie holes is ether am a red neck hill billy or a baby killer

[poopsix]

Awesome.

[PoesTruePsycho]

My issue is that blog and this video all come from an exclusively heterocentric viewpoint, almost to the point of being heterosexist. POV. I'm a gay man, I'm hairy, I wear a beard, I'm definitely NOT a hipster or metrosexual. I have what most straight people would call femme mannerisms and personality traits, but I believe in hard work and thrift etc... So where does that put me on the "real man" scale? (More in next comment)

[PoesTruePsycho]

It evokes the 1982 song "Real Men" by Joe Jackson:

"What's a man now? What's a man mean?

Is he rough and is he rugged or cultural and clean?

See the nice boys dancing in pairs

Golden earring, golden tan, blow wave in their hair

Sure they're all straight, straight as a line

All the gays are macho, see their leather shine."

Being a "real man" means nothing, and it means what any given person believes it means. To contend that there is a definition that shifts with significance is absurd.

[poopsix]

Well, considering the total percentage of gay men, it's only fitting that this be 'heterocentric', seeing as it's a generic presentation.

Also, being gay does not necessarily equate with being 'manly'. Especially the stereotypes.

[PoesTruePsycho]

@poopsix You sort of entirely backed up my point, which is that it's ignorant to somehow equate being gay with being something other than "manly." In fact the fear that being seen as gay will make someone be seen as LESS masculine, or weak, drives hate crime and discrimination across the globe.

[poopsix]

Unfortunately for you, only 'sort of'.

How is being gay masculine? How is it manly to be attracted to one's own gender?

Also, the video was all about returning to the masculinity as shown by our grandfathers- that rules out homosexuality as manly.

[PoesTruePsycho]

@poopsix You sound more ignorant with every reply. First, there are plenty of grandfathers - or men of a grandfatherly age - who are gay. Secondly, what does who you have sex with have to do with whether or not you are "manly"? It would take me five seconds to find you a gay dude who looks and acts identically to the man in this video. You're still living in the illusion that gay men are sissies who prance around lisping and drinking espresso.

[DannyGrowth]

Being gay isn't more or less masculine. Gays have the same spectrum of good and bad, and are just as varied as straight men. I know gay guys who like opera, football, building houses, interior decorating, farming, etc. The old stereotypes are going out the window as we progress. As a gay guy, I'm totally in agreement with Brett on taking the best of masculinity's heritage that has been under attack in this country, mainly by consumerism.

[unspoken24]

@DannyGrowth Being gay just isnt very manly

[LatumWay]

@unspoken24 Tell bears that.

[unspoken24]

@LatumWay bears?

[LatumWay]

@unspoken24 Google 'gay bears'.

[noncroyant]

@poopsix

If fucking a woman makes you masculine then fucking a man must make you hypermasculine amirite?

[DeamonCohln]

@PoesTruePsycho Just as much of a real man as any straight guy. To me, being a man is not about who you're attracted to, but a comfort within yourself. Inner strength to come out and just say "Hey, this is who I am. I do the right thing in my eyes and if you stand in the way of that, be prepared to face the consequences, no matter what they be." Gay men can be men just as much as straight men.

[PoesTruePsycho]

@DeamonCohln So...what if a total emo floppity haired femme kid who wears tight pants and eyeliner says "Hey, thi sis who I am. I do the right thing in my eyes and if you stand in the way of that, be prepared to face the consequences."> Is he a 'man' by the standards laid out in this video?

[DeamonCohln]

@PoesTruePsycho I actually didn't watch the video (YouTube's fucking up a lot lately) That idea is based off my own ideas of what a man is. But hey, if the emo kid would stand up to me and fight back when I smack the eyeliner off of him, I can respect him as a man.

[PoesTruePsycho]

@DeamonCohln LOL. Funny, but antithetical to my point. :) And who cares about these emo/hipster kids? 8 years ago they were e-tard glowstick ravers, and 8 years before that they were plaid wearing grunge losers, and so on and so on. You can't use trends in fashion and attitude as the basis on what it is to be a "man". Here's what I think it takes to be a man: say you're one. Go google Buck Angel (NSFW) - that's an example of a man to me. So is Rufus Wainwright. And so on.

[DeamonCohln]

@PoesTruePsycho Don't need to explain that one to me. I was actually kind of agreeing with you in that our idea of what a "real man" is is actually shallow and not as large as it is to me. Shit, one of my heros and an example of a real man is James Randi, he takes no bullshit and will stand up for what he sees as logical and rational. Also, he just came out the closet, which just makes me say "Dude, you got balls, no matter where you put them."

[iamaneviltaco]

No. See also: that "growing up" thing. I mean, I'm pierced, that's one thing. But You have to be able to put that shit down and clean yourself up if need be. I can take my piercings out. You can't un-retarded haircut yourself for work. Besides, a real man uses words to express his rebellion, not stupid fashion trends.

[gregkauf1987]

You really hit the nail on the head there, Brett. Excellent presentation - you fit a lot of information into a small amount of time and still managed to get your point of crystal clear. I'm with the Saint - I'm proud to be a follower of the Art of Manliness.

[h4pr]

because the two most masculine things in the world are powerpoint presentations and whining on youtube.

[steveosnyder]

@h4pr 1) You should take a look at the art of manliness blog. If you haven't, you really have no place to comment

2) This wasn't posted by the speaker, it was posted by the group that he presented for. Because he gets paid to talk about manliness.

Perhaps you should go back to waxing your chest hair and playing Worlds of Warcraft.

[themaineman5]

I'm all about the retro-sexual revolution! Let's bring back confidence, initiative, and know-how to today's growing generation of men!

[rkjackson87]

Great stuff!

[TheWildHaggis]

Bravo!

[LinuxGeek89]

Thank god I'm not the only young person who likes some things the old fashioned way! This was a truly awesome speech!

[TocTep]

I pity You, western society. Constrained in stereotypes and obligatory standards of behaviour

[GrizzledOldBear]

The message was going well until you laid the blame on baby boomers and promoted your own generation. At that point credibility took a steep drop. Contrary to what TV would have you believe, not every BB was a hippie; they were just the ones who received the most press. Just as not every Gen X/Y is bringing cool back. A little humility would suit you better.

[IzzyJG99]

If you pick up a history book you will find that most History Books, Sociological Study books and Economic Books blame the Baby Boomers for most modern day problems. They're actually not even called the baby boomers anymore. They're referred to in books now as "The wasted generation" that had the lowest graduation rate since 1904.

[thesaint252]

Makes me proud to have been a member of the Art of Manliness for two years now.

[GOOKFOOTproductions]

You hit the nail on the head!!

[Destructos]

And drove it through the wood he did!

[AOCenteno]

Love it Brett! Great Job!

[BowTieGuyUK2000]

Been there for years, like Mark....maybe Brett and co are catching up with us. I do recommend his artofmanliness website and daily mail-out.

[RetroMarkD]

I am already for many years a "retroman" great to see this

[NammaPaya]

I have had this strange "this-isn't-quite-right" feeling about 6pack masculinity of today. Brett, man! you put all in words! Your blog is awesome.

[ghengiscrayon]

Thanks Brett. Always enjoy your website.

[tjsboywonder]

You sir are impressive! Great job!

[nederland4045]

Well said, couldn't agree more.

Sadly it is not just the men that need fixing, its all of us!

[thehuhman1949]

Awesome, Brett!