Let’s Talk About…The Harry Styles Vogue Cover

     In December 2020, beloved musician Harry Styles was photographed for the cover of Vogue wearing a frothy, lace-trimmed dress.

Harry Styles on Dressing Up, Making Music, and Living in the Moment | Vogue

     This sparked both admiration and outrage on social media; many celebrated his rejection of gender norms, but some expressed excessive concern with the piece of fabric that covered the body of someone they do not know. One of his most vocal critics was Candace Owens, a conservative commentator and writer, took to twitter to say, “There is no society that can survive without strong men. The East knows this. In the west, the steady feminization of our men at the same time that Marxism is being taught to our children is not a coincidence. It is an outright attack. Bring back manly men.” In a follow-up tweet, she expanded, “Since I’m trending I’d like to clarify what I meant when I said ‘bring back manly men.’ I meant: Bring back manly men. Terms like toxic masculinity,’ were created by toxic females. Real women don’t do fake feminism. Sorry I’m not sorry.” In response, Harry Styles took to Instagram a few weeks later to caption a photo of himself wearing a baby blue suit and eating a banana: “Bring back manly men.”

Harry Styles Shades Candace Owens' 'Bring Back Manly Men' Comment in  Instagram Caption

     With these statements, Owens perpetuated the common, misinformed, outdated ideology that wearing garments presently associated with women lowers a man’s value to society. Though she takes the opportunity to take a jab at “females” (an…interesting term to refer to women who do not agree with her, to say the least) and diminish the existence of toxic masculinity, it is she who is placing men inside the box of stereotypes and restrictive expression. It seems that many people have been defining Harry Styles’ choice of fashion based on their own preference and attractive towards men without acknowledging that his existence has no relation to that, but hey, what is the internet without people bringing everything back to themselves?

    The only thing that makes a man is his own self. If someone considers himself a man, then he is. Regardless of the way he chooses to present himself. Regardless of the clothes he wears. Regardless of the makeup he may choose to put on. Regardless of his profession. Regardless of his hobbies. Regardless of his stance on social issues. Regardless of his other identities. A man is a man, because he defines himself as such, and nobody, not even other men, has the right to strip him of that title.

Author: Sydney Knotts

“A person is a fool to become a writer. His only compensation is absolute freedom. He has no master except his own soul, and that, I am sure, is why he does it.” — Roald Dahl