For conservatives, the concept of toxic masculinity knocks down the virtues and ways of life they hold dear: strength, honor, duty, and bravery. Though, of course, these virtues are not the exclusive domain of men. But in the absence of these traditional manly virtues, Shapiro, Peterson, and their many followers are incapable of imagining other kinds of masculine ideals, so they cling even harder to the old ones. This looking backward to how men used to be is practically a national pastime; it’s not just MAGA Republicans who fondly remember the good old days. “I miss a dominant masculinity,” the once-liberal comedian Jerry Seinfeld confessed on a recent appearance on “heterodox thinker” Bari Weiss’s podcast. “I get the…