She actually doesn’t say he has toxic male role models in his life, he has conservatives in his life, who she admits are not good sex-advice-givers or puberty-talk-havers. She doesn’t say they are Nazi’s or wifebeaters or something. The assumptions I’d make from this is he has conservative trad-marriage role models, which I had too. These people teach you a distorted view of sex, but also a lot of the best male role models in my life live as conservatives.
Anyway, no I don’t really think that male role models are as important as we like to think. This is kinda a “what is wrong with our youth” take on modernity. A good female role model to a man can be almost more influential. Her being a good mom is going to influence his views on women a lot more than any dudebro with no relation to him, especially if she calls him on misogyny he may pick up.
A man who loves women has healthy female role models. That’s more important than anything in developing their views on women. And then more importantly than anything, a man who will succeed in life has an internal drive to be better, learn more, not be led, etc, and that doesn’t come from other people.
I’ve just followed this revolving door of male self improvement advice for a long time now. It actually started for me at church, those guys hate a young man without a “role model”. Then people started blaming the lack of role models and we got Jordan Peterson and Andrew Tate, when honestly the biggest problem facing men in society was capitalism and overwork not male lack of self improvement. Then people were like, no not THOSE role models, and now people are blaming young men for Trump voting etc, when again it’s role models themselves that are making these kids fail to see their issues in relation to labor.
What if, instead of teaching men to be followers we taught them to be leaders and free thinkers. Women too. I never once woke up as a kid and was like, man I wish I had someone to look up to. I had people to learn from but I was imminently aware of other people’s flaws and the fallacy of emulating success. Don’t become your dad or your pastor please. Realize what’s wrong with the culture you are growing up in and why it’s making you sad, don’t emulate others, don’t blame others, identify and overcome.
We really just need to teach philosophy in schools.