Wine in Old Bottles

Churches are also teaching life skills to young men

One aspect of the new gender gap (briefly discussed yesterday) is the return of young men to church.

“Many young men feel like their lives are lacking in structure, purpose and connection,” said Richard Reeves, president of the nonpartisan research organization the American Institute for Boys and Men. “It turns out that churches have 2,000 years of experience at providing these things.”

These efforts appear to be paying off. Women in the U.S. have long been more religious than men, but lately the gender gap in religious affiliation has narrowed. Surveys show that women are leaving the pews, partly in response to the church’s handling of sexual-abuse scandals but also because they are increasingly suspicious of institutions that reinforce traditional gender roles. Men, meanwhile, are staying in the fold.

Among younger Americans, men are more religious than women for the first time in modern history. In a 2024 survey of Americans aged 18 to 29 by the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), 64% of men and 60% of women said they were religiously affiliated. A decade ago, 65% of men and 71% of women said the same.

[Pastor B.J.] Holt has noticed an uptick in young men coming to the church with more questions than answers about how to live a meaningful life—or just get through the day. “We’re trying to impart guidance on a generation that’s hungry for that,” Holt said.

Finding purpose in one's life is not about casting hither and yon for new truths but taking the time to find what's worked in the past and asking whether it can work again.

An Obvious Chick Magnet

Hermès Birkin bag (WSJ photo)

Latest fashion trend: men are buying Hermès handbags that start at $10,000. [bold added]

Kanye West, Travis Scott and Marc Jacobs have also carted boxy Birkins (first introduced in 1984 and named for the French actress Jane Birkin) or its weightier brother, the Haut à Courroies, or HAC. Hermès does not publicize the price of its coveted handbags (and they are not specifically marketed along gender lines), but, according to collectors, Birkins start around $10,000, while the larger HAC can be even more expensive...

StockX, the online resale marketplace that says it has a majority male customer base, has an Hermès handbag section, where you can find a cherry red Birkin priced at $25,288 and a black version of its shoulder-strapped cousin, the Kelly, at $48,000. The bags are a small, but growing facet of StockX’s business. This year, searches for “Birkin” are up 50% on the site, which says it currently sees an even gender split among purchasers of items in its “handbag” section.

That may sum up a Birkin’s appeal generally, but why are men becoming more interested in them than they used to be? For one, some men have progressed past mocking man-bags and now consider them practical, if often extravagant, accessories...

The internet has also turned more men onto the idea that Birkins are worth coveting. On Instagram, you can find accounts like @MenInHermes and @BirkinMen that are filled with images of men posing with these boxy bags.

There is an “I have it and you don’t” appeal to Birkins that, among men, speaks the same, braggadocious language as buying limited NFTs or a pair of vintage Jordans—two markets that have, not coincidentally, also exploded recently. Men often view Birkins as an investment and Hermès bags in good condition do retain their value on the resale market.

Floyd Mayweather with a Diamond Birkin

Why dance around the obvious? Wealth always attracts a lot of women (not all women, to be sure, such as those enlightened enough to read this humble journal). Yet, many traditional ostentatious displays of wealth carry negative, er, baggage: a very expensive car can mean that the driver is compensating for something, and flashy jewelry and designer clothes are still not appropriate in many business settings.

A Hermès announces that the bearer is both a man of means and comfortable with his own sexuality.

And $10,000 is a stiff barrier to keep out the hoi polloi.

I would never buy one in real life, but my metaverse self will buy one and see what happens.

Real Masculinity

The San Francisco 49ers drafted Arkansas linebacker Dre Greenlaw in the 5th round--his roster spot is far from assured--but he's already made the first team of life, according to the father of a college classmate. [bold added]

[Gerry] Daly, a 52-year-old husband and father of two, shared a story about the Razorbacks’ team captain on Twitter that resonated widely....

In 2015, Greenlaw and Meghan Daly were both freshmen at Arkansas who had become casual friends at Fayetteville High. At the party, Meghan, who hadn’t been drinking heavily with her group of friends, was acting erratically and told Greenlaw at one point she thought a pill, a date-rape drug, had been slipped into her drink.

Gerry Daly said Meghan’s friends later told her that Greenlaw stopped a man from leaving the party with her. On Thursday, Greenlaw recalled stepping in when a man began acting aggressively toward Meghan. Greenlaw helped Meghan find her friends, from whom she’d become separated, and they took her to the nearest emergency room.[snip]

“This is a guy who literally could have screwed up his future by doing this,” Daly said. “If the guy that’s trying to take Meghan away throws a punch and it ends up in a fight, who knows? He could end up getting arrested or thrown off the team. It was one of those things.

“The more I thought about it, the more I realized what he could have been putting at risk for my daughter. The more the shock of the event passed, the more the gratitude set in.”[snip]

Daly appreciated why Greenlaw might want to downplay his role, given he was a freshman on the football team who was at a party where there was underage drinking.

For that reason, Daly didn’t share the story publicly until Saturday, when Greenlaw officially landed in the NFL.

And what does Dre Greenlaw have to say? “At the time, I was just looking out for a friend.”