The #BringBackManlyMen Controversy

The #BringBackManlyMen Controversy

Samanta Molina, Entertainment Editor

The well-known singer Harry Styles has recently been ridiculed for his appearance in Vogue magazine. On November 13th, 2020 the new issue of Vogue came out with Harry Styles wearing a dress. Blurring gender lines is just one of the things Styles is known for, and it is popular with other artists as well, such as Bad Bunny. Candice Owens, a Conservative author and political activist recently published her opinions on the matter on Twitter by stating “Wearing a ball gown on the cover of Vogue isn’t manly.” Owens went on to say, “Bring back manly men.” 

This is so wrong in so many ways. It’s 2020 and it shouldn’t matter if you wear women’s or men’s clothes or if you wear makeup or anything for that matter. The point of blurring gender lines is to show that it doesn’t matter. When the famous actor Brad Pitt wore a dress on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine in 1999, there wasn’t a widespread negative reaction towards it. Could it have been because people see more “masculine” attributes in Brad Pitt than they do in Harry Styles? And if so, why should that matter? In my opinion, Candice Owens shouldn’t care about what other people are wearing because it doesn’t affect her or have anything to do with her in any way, shape, or form. 

Harry Styles’ whole campaign is to treat people with kindness! Since that is what he truly stands for, he responded to Owens in an Instagram post on December 2nd but not in a rude or disrespectful way. All he did was post a picture in a flowy suit and captioned it, “Bring back manly men.” He used the same words Owens used towards him, but in taking ownership of them, ended up sending her a taste of her own medicine. After all she said about him, he still kept his response simple and to-the-point, reiterating the message that he doesn’t care if he isn’t “manly enough,” that he is comfortable in his own skin and encourages others to be comfortable too. But Owens continued to tweet about the topic as she stated “When people try to tell me I don’t have influence, and then @Harry_Styles dedicates an entire post to my tweet. I inspire global conversation. #BringBackManlyMen Shots fired. 😂.” Owens might feel empowered, but at this point, she has been defeated. Harry Styles will continue to do what he believes in and is sure to take his fans along the way.

I hope this article finds you in good health and as always, stay safe, be happy and most importantly, TREAT PEOPLE WITH KINDNESS!