USA TODAY opinion columnist Nicole Russell examined the male mental health crisis in a June 7 column, arguing that cultural devaluation of masculinity has fueled a generation of struggling men. Russell contends that while the left has spent years framing masculinity as inherently toxic, it now appears shocked by the evidence of widespread male decline in education, work, and mental health.
The facts supporting Russell’s concern are stark. Men are now much less likely than women to earn a college degree, and their suicide rate is four times higher than women’s, according to data cited in the column. Men also struggle more with drug, gambling, and pornography addiction, and a March Institute for Family Studies survey found that young men are delaying traditional milestones—marriage, children, full-time work, and college—at rising rates.
Russell’s column centered on a recent New York Times discussion on “The Opinions” podcast about what healthier manhood looks like. In that discussion, opinion culture editor Nadja Spiegelman observed a widening gender divide in politics, with men moving right and women moving left. Spiegelman posed a pointed question: “If on the left what men are hearing is ‘Men are trash,’ doesn’t it make sense, then, that the right is their safe space?”
Russell noted the irony of the Times, a reliably center-left publication that has spent years stoking anti-male sentiment, now bemoaning the disappearance of healthy men while struggling to explain how it happened. She argued that conservatives have seen this coming for years: the left-leaning education system, mainstream media, and Hollywood embraced the feminist mantra that men are no longer needed, and now, a generation later, they’re surprised the men they sidelined are struggling.
The Institute for Family Studies survey offered some encouraging findings. Young men aren’t as captured by online influencers as widely reported—parents ranked as their most influential figures, with Andrew Tate ranked last. Their definition of masculinity was healthy, too, emphasizing sacrifice, strength, responsibility, and leadership. This may help explain why more young men are leaning right, Russell suggested.
Russell drew on philosopher C.S. Lewis’s observation: “We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst.” She concluded that instead of cultivating men’s strengths, the left neutered them, pushed them aside, and spent decades on feminist-centered rhetoric about empowering women. The columnist is a mother of four who lives in Texas and writes regularly on politics and culture for USA TODAY.
Sources
USA TODAY — Nicole Russell’s June 7, 2026 opinion column on male mental health and feminism
Institute for Family Studies — March 2026 survey on young men, their values, and delayed milestones
CDC — Suicide statistics showing men’s rate is four times higher than women’s
New York Times — “The Opinions” podcast discussion on young men and masculinity
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