Author: Rob Okun

Rob Okun (rob@voicemalemagazine.org), syndicated by PeaceVoice, is editor emeritus of Voice Male, a magazine. that for more than three decades has been chronicling the antisexist men’s movement. He is editor of the anthology, Voice Male: The Untold Story of the Profeminist Men’s Movement. He writes about politics and culture.

Two Mass Shootings, Two Countries—and Two Very Different Responses

On Dec. 14, 2025, two tragedies unfolded on opposite sides of the world—each marked by gun violence and grief, yet met with starkly different national responses.

On the first night of Hanukkah, a gathering on Bondi Beach in Sydney, turned into horror when a father and son opened fire during a “Hanukkah by the Sea” celebration, killing 15 people and wounding 40 in what Australian authorities called an antisemitic terrorist attack. 

The day before in Providence, R.I., a shooter opened fire at Brown University during finals, killing two students and wounding nine.

These shootings—one at a beloved public beach, the other on an Ivy League campus—expose not only shared grief but radically different understandings of responsibility.

The Sound of Silence After Minneapolis: America’s Masculinity Blind Spot

A trans shooter in Minneapolis does not change the pattern: Most mass murderers are cisgender men. Change begins with acknowledging that truth. And then acting on it.

Men, let’s answer the call. Let’s urge Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison to use their platforms to spark a movement of men to lead the way. Enough is enough. The time is now—before the guns ring out again.

Why Trump’s Manhood Is Threatened by a Free Press

President Donald Trump doesn’t hate the media because it lies. He hates it because it tells the truth, and the truth frightens him. Despite nonstop lying, he’s managed to stay ahead of reality. But even with MAGA, his grip is slipping.

When Trump sneers, “The press is the enemy of the people,” he’s not showing strength; he’s revealing weakness. A truly strong man doesn’t need to crush dissent. That’s what weak men do.

This Father’s Day, Let’s Break the Manosphere’s Hold on Young Men

Father’s Day is a celebration of caregiving. Let’s also make it a day for men to be emotionally sensitive guides, not just breadwinners or protectors.

Let’s say to the boys in our lives: “You don’t have to be angry to be strong. You don’t have to dominate to be respected. You don’t have to hate women to be a man.”

Let’s tell them: “You can cry and still be brave. You can nurture and still be powerful. You can be gentle and still be strong.”

Let’s begin the conversation with our sons—again, and again, and again—until they hear us. Until they believe us. Until they believe in themselves.

Every Day Should Be No Kings Day

A would-be king wants a coronation on June 14, a date already laden with meaning: Flag Day, the 250th anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Army, and, yes, Donald J. Trump’s 79th birthday. But this year, Americans are refusing to let the day be co-opted.

Across all 50 states, from big cities to small towns, more than 1,800 events are planned to mark what organizers are calling the “No Kings Day of Defiance.” 

Could Low-Wage White Workers Spark Trump’s Undoing?

With time, the resistance movement against Trump’s dangerous agenda will grow to include low-wage white workers, a third of whom live in the South and were perhaps initially pro-Trump, according to a prediction from Bishop William Barber II.

“The only way a king becomes a king is if you bow. And we cannot bow,” Barber said. “Bowing is not in our DNA. We have to stand in this moment.”

Donald Trump Rides Patriarchy Back to the White House

Feminism simply denotes believing in the political, economic and social equality of the sexes—yet Trump and his allies viciously demeaned it at every turn.

White male supremacy, which Trump ran on, continues to play an outsized role in exacerbating the divide that afflicts our nation. While not widely understood, men, too, are damaged by patriarchy; it diminishes us, undermines our humanity.

To bridge our political, cultural and gender chasm, we’ll need to recognize what the election reflected: Patriarchy’s grip and the assault on feminism are two sides of the same coin. It’s on us now to make that part of the national conversation. There’s a lot of work to do. One take-away from the Harris campaign still rings true: “We’re not going back.”

The ‘New’ Masculinity Is Actually 50 Years Old

Since the presidential campaign shake-up in July, the national conversation about manhood has been abuzz with talk of a “new” masculinity, embodied by good, decent men like Tim Walz and Doug Emhoff. What’s actually new, though, is what’s coming into focus: the consequences of 50 years of men’s hard work to redefine manhood.

A growing number of men across all races and ethnicities have followed women in working to prevent domestic and sexual violence, protect reproductive rights and redefine and transform traditional ideas about manhood, fatherhood and brotherhood. Men are rejecting a fixed definition of masculinity and replacing it with an emotionally rich expression of masculinities.