Then there was the Tonik suit, very fashionable among the grown-ups in 1960s. My father (snappy dresser but no dandy; my mother was keen that he should be) had a number made of the cloth. It was, dare I pun, a form of Tonik Masculinity. The wool came from Patagonia and the dolly-birds who featured in ads draped around 'The man in the Tonik suit’ from swinging London.,.
I just published this about my 2022 genesis of the term Tonic Masculinity and the ten male Substack authors who stole it--including, I now find, Charles Eisenstein, on whose post I coined it!
From my research, there are at least four of us who made it up independently but the 2020 Medium author with 2 followers and 2 likes wasn't the first--and unlikely to be the source for the two 2021 academic authors and certainly not me. Bill Donaghy coined the term in 2019 for his Catholic anti-porn platform. He's been writing and speaking about it ever since, with 121K subs on YT. He's part of the Theology of the Body Institute so Christopher West certainly got it from him.
It seems like all the Walz references trace back to Ax Lizzy. She/ he doesn't seem like a wordsmith from their other posts, so I'd guess it was derivative from somewhere. Maybe my several 2023 articles with it in the title, maybe from the nine popular Substack authors who stole it and 'ran with it' as they said, maybe from Charles. But maybe not.
This may be my favoritest of your posts yet. How do you think his drunk driving arrest and subsequent rehab after his wife dressed him down fits the story? I think it makes him even more relatable- but I'm amazed the GOP hasn't tried to make more of that.
The only thing that bugs me about this onslaught of "clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose" Americana (I wonder if tonic masculinity expresses itself differently elsewhere) is that the football coaches in my (public) high school were total dildos. One was my driving teacher and he disdained artsy types like me. So the idea of listening to it for four years ... bleagghhh. But if it works, great.
Thanks, Carol! I'm not seeing any jabs from the other side about his DUI; if anything, it may make him more relatable to the, um, salt of the earth. (Remember GW Bush's years of drinking? And Laura Bush killing someone in a car crash?) The attacks I'm seeing involve Walz's military service ("stolen valor"), the tampons-in-the-boys'-restroom story, and "CoMmiEs!!!!" Also: "Why haven't Walz and Harris given any press conferences, huh?" Also: the whole business about "faked photo in the Detroit airport," setting us up for accusations of Election Day chicanery.
I don't remember any of our high school football coaches, but they must have been good because our team was league champion all three years I was a student. And our principal, Norm Schachter, was an NFL referee on the weekends (and Jewish!). I was an enthusiastic football fan for three years, and then never again.
Totally missed your response, sorry! I keep getting Covid with rebounds. Yes you're right about GWB's drinking, I'd forgotten! BTW I loved how you got from all-American dad-football coach to mensch in the end. (Also BTW, the only reason I could even identify one of our coaches because he was my driver training teacher - another vanished virtue of the California public high schools of yore.)
“They may have been too busy flexing their pecs to notice that their slogan anagrams to MAMA.” 🤣🤣🤣
Also loved the WCW reference. 👍
LOVE!!
Then there was the Tonik suit, very fashionable among the grown-ups in 1960s. My father (snappy dresser but no dandy; my mother was keen that he should be) had a number made of the cloth. It was, dare I pun, a form of Tonik Masculinity. The wool came from Patagonia and the dolly-birds who featured in ads draped around 'The man in the Tonik suit’ from swinging London.,.
I don't think the Tonik suit made it across the pond.
I just published this about my 2022 genesis of the term Tonic Masculinity and the ten male Substack authors who stole it--including, I now find, Charles Eisenstein, on whose post I coined it!
From my research, there are at least four of us who made it up independently but the 2020 Medium author with 2 followers and 2 likes wasn't the first--and unlikely to be the source for the two 2021 academic authors and certainly not me. Bill Donaghy coined the term in 2019 for his Catholic anti-porn platform. He's been writing and speaking about it ever since, with 121K subs on YT. He's part of the Theology of the Body Institute so Christopher West certainly got it from him.
It seems like all the Walz references trace back to Ax Lizzy. She/ he doesn't seem like a wordsmith from their other posts, so I'd guess it was derivative from somewhere. Maybe my several 2023 articles with it in the title, maybe from the nine popular Substack authors who stole it and 'ran with it' as they said, maybe from Charles. But maybe not.
Here's my post: https://thirdparadigm.substack.com/p/tonic-masculinity-goes-viral!
Thank you, Tereza!
This may be my favoritest of your posts yet. How do you think his drunk driving arrest and subsequent rehab after his wife dressed him down fits the story? I think it makes him even more relatable- but I'm amazed the GOP hasn't tried to make more of that.
The only thing that bugs me about this onslaught of "clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose" Americana (I wonder if tonic masculinity expresses itself differently elsewhere) is that the football coaches in my (public) high school were total dildos. One was my driving teacher and he disdained artsy types like me. So the idea of listening to it for four years ... bleagghhh. But if it works, great.
Thanks, Carol! I'm not seeing any jabs from the other side about his DUI; if anything, it may make him more relatable to the, um, salt of the earth. (Remember GW Bush's years of drinking? And Laura Bush killing someone in a car crash?) The attacks I'm seeing involve Walz's military service ("stolen valor"), the tampons-in-the-boys'-restroom story, and "CoMmiEs!!!!" Also: "Why haven't Walz and Harris given any press conferences, huh?" Also: the whole business about "faked photo in the Detroit airport," setting us up for accusations of Election Day chicanery.
I don't remember any of our high school football coaches, but they must have been good because our team was league champion all three years I was a student. And our principal, Norm Schachter, was an NFL referee on the weekends (and Jewish!). I was an enthusiastic football fan for three years, and then never again.
Totally missed your response, sorry! I keep getting Covid with rebounds. Yes you're right about GWB's drinking, I'd forgotten! BTW I loved how you got from all-American dad-football coach to mensch in the end. (Also BTW, the only reason I could even identify one of our coaches because he was my driver training teacher - another vanished virtue of the California public high schools of yore.)
Wonderful! The plums in the icebox were a particularly nice touch.