GQ, the monthly magazine formerly known as Gentleman's Quarterly and dedicated to fashion and living for the man of style, is now in the business of reinventing manhood. The magazine's latest is a special “New Masculinity” issue. Its purpose, according to editor-in-chief Will Welch, is to explore “the ways that traditional notions of masculinity are being challenged, shifted, and overturned” and to help “rebuild masculinity on a foundation of traits and values like generosity, honesty, openness, and love.”
Some conservative reactions, such as a New York Times op-ed by Matt Labash, have been as predictable as the “New Man” sermonizing: Men are men, women are women, and all this talk of changing masculinity is nonsense, so let's hear it for the manly man. (John Wayne makes an appearance.) Labash is also put off by the fact that so many of the people talking about the “New Masculinity” in the special issue are women, since women have no business telling men how to be men.