xxxix: huberlab and cheat
real masculinity and podcasts build on sand
I make no secret of the fact that I am not a big podcasts’ consumer. There are already so many voices in my head, I find it difficult to focus on spoken content. Given my podcast grinch status, I was pleased to read the extensive investigative piece on Andrew Huberman, who has a Ph.D. in neuroscience, with research expertise in optic nerve signalling from Stanford. A couple of years ago, he started a podcast, which became wildly popular claiming to make science more understandable while giving you simple, zero-cost protocols for your health. Just an other wellness bro, but this time with better credentials through his Ivy-League affiliation infused with solid scientific jargon. Used in a misleading manner, ofc.
Huberman has a following of over 6 million followers on insta and his podcast is according to Spotify in the top 10 most heard world wide. Impressive. The jacked almost 50 years old associate professor at Stanford is the parade example of how far male privilege can push boundaries.
The exposé sheds some light on Huberman’s personal life. I can understand one should separate the craft from the man, but this quite literally only applies to men. A scandal at this scale would ruin any woman anytime. Let’s spill the tea. It seems the pseudo scientists not only enjoys twisting academic speech, but also blatantly lying to people’s faces, more specifically to his romantic partners and friends. A flakey one at best, a proper psycho at worst. Andy-boy was simultaneously dating six different women and leading them to believe they were exclusive, all while trying to conceive IVF babies with one of them and living with her. Just imagine the logistics of that. And keeping this up over a couple of years. I am sure there must be some type of award for that.
For those whose lives have been improved by Dr. H. and his shaky science, here an extensive article on how he cherry picks weak studies and discards more robust ones, so that they align with his theses, usually ones that recommend some overpriced protein green powder that he invested in.
The internet has not reacted much to the outrageous fact that this man is a serial liar, probably because we still low key and subconsciously reward men who are able to deceive women at scale, as opposed to one at a time.
Let’s take the incident deeper and talk about lying as a foundational stone for masculinity. John Stoltenberg’s book The End of Manhood: a Book for Men of Conscience analyses how the masculine identity offered to men as ideal in patriarchal culture is one that requires men to invest in a false self. It begins with boys don’t cry and continues with the predilection that love and feelings don’t really matter or at least should not be made evident. However, men are thought to expect love to be part of their lives (on the receiving end), so they still yearn for love and truth, no matter how deep they are in this trance state they need to put themselves into in order to assert masculinity and power among their peers. This deeply confuses them and numbs their ability to feel and take responsibility for pain they cause. bell hooks explains in all about love: new visions why this is not feasible and its cultural relevance in relation to lying as a mode of acquiring power within intimate relationships.
Patriarchy teaches us that real men can do whatever they like, even though that means breaking rules; and rebrands honesty as softness. I like that whole good girls go to heaven, bad girls go wherever they want to, but such quotes refer to breaking societal norms and boxes we are put in, not fundamental values that we should be guided by. No one likes a cheater. In the whole testosterone storm, men seem unable to make this distinction.
For the men looking for real masculinity, I found this great podcast - Man Enough. The show explores what does it mean to be a man, and human, in the world today and how rigid gender roles have affected all people. All about how the messages of masculinity show up in relationships, body image, privilege, fatherhood, sex, success, mental health and so much more. I read the transcripts, but good for you audio receptive people who like podcasts.
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