The Family Research Council’s “new masculinity”

Feminist backlash: Better than spinach!
Via Wendy Norris at RH Reality Check, we find out that the Christian conservative think tank Family Research Council wants dudes to be more manly. Apparently, the way men become more manly is by fighting back against feminism.

According to the seminar description on “The New Masculinity,” Pat Fagan, senior fellow and director of FRC’s Center for Family and Religion, will discuss how “feminism has wreaked havoc on marriage, women, children and men. It is time to redress the disorder it has wrought and that must start with getting the principles and ideals for a new ‘masculinism’ right.”

What always strikes me as odd about conservative discussions of masculinity is how closely they’re tied with feminism and a fear of all things ‘woman’. As if the only way to be a “man” is to not be a woman. This oppositional definition of masculinity not only seems to give men a pretty short shrift, but also just furthers misogyny. (It reminds me a lot of Stephen Ducat’s great book, The Wimp Factor: Gender Gaps, Holy Wars, and the Politics of Anxious Masculinity and its discussion of femiphobia.)
Seriously, why is it that conservative masculinity is completely dependent on misogyny and keeping women in their supposed place? How many purity balls, dates with Dad and anti-feminism diatribes does one need before you feel like a “man”?