Josh Hawley promotes fatherhood as solution to masculinity crisis: ‘Dads are crucially needed’

EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Josh Hawley Calls for Strong Male Role Models to Address Masculinity Crisis

While young men are falling behind in an “epidemic of fatherlessness,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) says strong male role models are needed to cure the masculinity crisis.

Hawley sat down for an exclusive interview with the Washington Examiner in his Washington, D.C., office to talk about fatherhood, masculinity, and family ahead of Father’s Day.

The Decline of American Men

American men have fallen behind in some of the most significant metrics for success, such as getting married, starting a family, moving out of their parents’ houses, and becoming financially independent. Diagnosing the state of men, Hawley pointed to two major themes driving decline: fatherlessness and media messaging.

When young men do not have strong male role models, which the Missouri Republican said has been a generational problem, they begin to lack the kind of purpose and life mission that builds a constructive family life.

At the same time, men are constantly told by “the Left and their messaging in the media” that they are inherently evil, that masculinity is driving the social decline, and that fathers are “either absent or abusive or idiots.”

“Men are told all the time that to be a man is to be toxic, that if you’re a man, you make the world a worse place, and that fathers are irrelevant or maybe they contribute to the great injustice of the world,” Hawley said. “All of that stuff is false. We need dads desperately.”

“Sure, some men are absent. That’s bad. Some men are abusive,” he continued, explaining that men need to be shown how important their contributions to their families are.

The Value of Fatherhood

Being a father is “the best thing you can do with your life,” said the 43-year-old father of two boys and a girl who has been married to his wife, Erin, since 2010. His book, Manhood: The Masculine Virtues America Needs, came out this year.

“There’s tremendous value in being a father, you know. I mean, I just say unapologetically the best thing you can do with your life, you want your life to matter: Get married, have a family, be a husband, be a father, invest your life in somebody else’s life, don’t just live for yourself,” Hawley said. “That will be the path to true happiness and true significance.”

Even men who did not grow up with positive male role models can “break the cycle” by making it their responsibility to “change the destiny of your family.”

“You don’t have to do it perfectly, but if you will try to spend time with your kids, if you will try to invest in them, that will pay huge dividends in their life and in your life,” he said.

The Impact of Fatherhood

The sense of purpose derived from fatherhood is not anecdotal, University of Virginia sociologist and Institute for Family Studies senior fellow W. Bradford Wilcox told the Washington Examiner.

“I think too many young men today don’t fully appreciate how much becoming a father is what we would call a generative experience that endows their life with meaning, purpose, direction — and yeah, it’s tough, but generally a great deal of satisfaction as well,” he said.

The Influence of Media and Mentors

Young men without role models can be led astray, Hawley explained, particularly given the kinds of content they can find online that they might choose to fill the mentorship void.

“Just think about the stuff that kids are exposed to today, on mobile platforms, on the internet, social media, and I think, as a parent, there’s so much out there, there’s so many people who really want to influence my kids, who would really like to raise my kids rather than me,” the Show Me State senator said. “You’ve got Joe Biden saying they’re all our kids. No, they’re not. They belong to their parents. There’s a reason for that.

“A lot of young men don’t get mentored at all,” he added. “These are the guys who are still, you know, in mom and dad’s basement or, you know, living somewhere on their screens at age 30 and can’t hold down a regular job, right? I mean, just don’t have any sense of purpose.”

Other young men, Hawley said, will hear the messaging about male toxicity and “embrace that,” finding other disaffected men who will encourage destructive, aggressive, or even violent behavior.

“What we need to find are role models who show what good, strong, healthy manhood looks like — that is self-sacrificial, that is willing to give up your own interests and ambitions for other people and is willing to use the strength and influence you have to benefit others,” he added.

Leading by Example

For Hawley, that advice starts at home as he balances the demands of travel and constituent work as a senator with being present to care for his young family.

“As I continue to grow as a dad, I think providing for your family, protecting them, and then really nurturing them, looking to their growth, those are the key things that I think as a dad, at least in the stage that I’m in right now, are so important,” Hawley said.

Hawley was elected to the Senate in 2018, beating incumbent Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill and becoming the youngest senator in the country at the time. Prior to his election to the Senate, Hawley served as Missouri attorney general from 2017-19.

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