The right-wing panic about masculinity continues apace, and the latest chapter in this very weird obsession comes via an unlikely villain: the bubble bath.
Fox News' Jesse Watters had an on-air rant about a government employee who shared a photo of himself working from home in his bathtub.
So what? Couldn't tell you, but if you're Watters and the assorted weirdos who sit in front of Fox News all day, the problem is that men aren't supposed to take baths, apparently.
Watters contends that males "age out" of taking baths at age five. Okay! Slow news day over at Fox, Jesse?
Watters ranted:
“What kind of man takes a bubble bath? Men age out of bubble baths at 5. If you’re a guy and you’re alone in a bubble bath, that’s a problem. You have to have someone with you.”
Ah there we go—baths are only for sex if you're a man, apparently. If you've ever tried to have sex in a bathtub you'll know that it really only works well in movies, but whatever.
The uproar came after far-right Iowa Republican Senator Joni Ernst shared the photo as part of a report she compiled targeting remote-work policies for government employees, which Republicans have of course decided they hate now. (Mainly because Elon Musk told them to.)
Watters then had Trump staffer Stephen Miller on his show to get his hot take on whether or not men should be taking bubble baths.
Miller agreed that "grown men should not be taking bubble baths" and that they shouldn't do their work from one either. He of course put air-quotes around the word "work" to imply that government employees don't actually do anything.
IDK man, this is an awful lot of interest in men's bathing habits for two supposed paragons of heterosexual masculinity!
And on social media, most people just found this whole thing ludicrous.
Anyway, it's worth noting that there are no bubbles visible in the photo. It's just a dude in a bathtub. But it's good to know the right is on the case and will soon free us from the scourge of *checks notes* men bathing. MAGA!
