From Man to Neo-Male: The Rise of the Wussapalooka

It’s getting hard to tell the metros from the gay guys these days, no? Fashionably coifed, chatty, gym rats, they look like they’ve never been in a fist fight. Yet, the “metrosexual” phenomenon is just a symptom of the larger transformation of middle class masculinity in contemporary American society. The transformation has resulted in the “wussapalooka,” or the “neo-male,” defined here as the modern middle class white dude…who went to college. A technician of power, without any power himself, the wussapalooca derives his self-identity through group identification. He has the type of career, profession or vocation, that makes you want to flee from him at dinner parties.

The term “wussapalooka” was conjured up cartoonist and commentator Ted Rall, in a September 3, 2007 cartoon. The cartoon is presented as an invitation sent by “hip, white literary types” who invite you to Wussapalooka, a “benefit for the most appealing and unthreatening members of The Community, i.e., our nannies’ children…Where Self-Effacing is an Act of Tactical Hostility.”

The term “wussapalooka” (borrowed from Ted Rall) is redefined here to mean the “neo-male.” The wussapalooka is manufactured by the mildly upper-middle class society. In the process, physical aggression and a masculine presentation have been replaced with a kind of a male version of “queen bee and wanna be” social behavior. Neo-males’ have co-opted social skills that had formerly been attributed (fairly or unfairly) to adolescent girls. It is a kind of shallow cruelness exercised through subtle maliciousness. Plain aggression has been relegated to passive-aggressive “snarkiness.” Snarky; to be “rudely sarcastic or disrespectful; snide” (dictionary.com).

Richard Rapaport argued in the San Francisco Chronicle that today’s television advertisements are “built on sadism, derision and ‘gotcha,’ that exemplify a move to what we might call ‘the Advertising Age of Snide.’” (Rapapot, Richard, Advertising in the Age of Snide, San Francisco Chronicle, 12/18/07, B5). Commercials, he argues, are a good barometer of the changing social climate of modern life. No other demographic best fits the “Age of Snide” than does today’s snarky neo-males.

If you need a mental image of the new age male, imagine a purposefully unextraordinary man, with a perpetual smirk on his face; something like the Verizon Wireless “Can you hear me now?” guy mixed with Tom Delay. Hostility without balls.


The computer age, particularly the phenomenon of Internet social networks is fertile soil for the evolution of modern masculinity. The anonymity of computer fostered communication styles result in quick, sharp, and efficient language, that because of the anonymity, is often presented as rude, vulgar, or attacking. The resulting computer speak has bled into popular culture and discourse.

The regimentation of childhood with its extended school days, soccer practice, and unrealistic societal expectations have made our youth competent, but not particular profound. No matter, as long as they gain social acceptance.

Male aggression has evolved in the new social environment. Ironically, aggression is now exercised passively to avoid the risks attendant with genuine masculinity. That is, rejection and failure. It is the fear of failure, and the fear of being rejected by the social group that results in boys no longer growing up to be men. Instead boys grow up to be “male.” They attain the social function of men, but without the risks of manhood.

To the neo-male, group identification and loyalty are more important than a stoic self-confidence. The groups are coalesced by the fear of social ostracism resulting in a kind of ugly group think. The engagement of men’s social cruelty is not perpetuated to attract the opposite sex, but rather to remain part of a group or clique and thereby have access and socialize with the women members of the group. In other words, he doesn’t want to get the girl, he’d rather invest his time being in the company of women. Maybe one will take pity on him. While attempting to maintain membership status in a particular group, the wussapalooka also attempts to limit male membership in the group, and to expel threatening members. The result is the creation of a bland, conformist, and unimaginative group of males, for which the term “man” is too strong a word.