What’s Dividing Young Men and Women? With Rob Henderson

_THE STORY_

Something strange is happening to young Americans. For the first time in generations, men and women are splitting into opposing political camps at unprecedented rates.

Young women are lurching hard left across the developed world — from the United States to Germany to South Korea. Meanwhile, young men are either staying put or drifting rightward. The gap is widening into a chasm that threatens the basic social fabric.

This isn't just about politics. Young people are dating less, marrying later, and spending more time in gender-segregated digital spaces. They're consuming content designed specifically for their demographic, reinforced by algorithms that push them further into their respective corners.

The 2024 election exposed this divide in dramatic fashion. Podcasts like Joe Rogan's were credited with mobilizing young male voters who typically don't show up to the polls.

Meanwhile, Democratic operatives like Tim Walz openly discussed using "code-talk" to reach working-class white men — revealing a party leadership that performs authenticity rather than embodying it.

But the roots of this split run deeper than campaign strategy or social media algorithms. They trace back to what psychologists call the "gender equality paradox" — the counterintuitive finding that as societies become more prosperous and egalitarian, gender differences actually increase rather than shrink.

When people have material abundance and freedom of choice, they're more likely to express their underlying biological and psychological preferences. Women gravitate toward compassion, egalitarianism, and redistribution. Men become more comfortable with competition, hierarchy, and inequality.

I spoke with Rob Henderson, a writer and scholar best known for coining the term luxury beliefs — ideas held and promoted by elites that often harm the working class. A US Air Force veteran and Yale graduate, Rob’s path from foster care to the Ivy League gives him a unique lens on class, culture, and identity in modern America.

Rob is also a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a columnist at The Free Press and The Boston Globe. He writes on Substack and is the author of Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class. You can follow him here →

Henderson believes we're in a messy transitional period as society adapts to revolutionary technologies, but he's optimistic we'll eventually find a new equilibrium.

The stakes couldn't be higher. When men and women begin holding radically different views about how America should function, the implications extend far beyond electoral politics.

I sat down with Rob to understand what's really driving these changes — and what comes next.

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