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Investigation‘Tech Oligarchs’ (4/6). The top executives of Silicon Valley are steeped in a predominantly male ‘geek culture,’ one that has been marked by heated debates over the role of women for the past 20 years.
On January 10, the mood was laid-back and unmistakably masculine in Joe Rogan’s studio – a space decked out like an American heartland bar, with flashy neon lights and wooden partitions. The comedian, martial arts youth champion and top-ranked podcaster in the United States had landed a major guest: Mark Zuckerberg. The Meta CEO rarely gives interviews but made a three-hour-long exception with Rogan, a vocal supporter of Donald Trump, to talk bowhunting, the excesses of the American left and progress in artificial intelligence.
With his gentle smile, the “nice Zuck” delivered a line that stood out against his usually careful phrasing. The man whose progressive image has long obscured the fact that his first college project was a “Hot or Not”-style app comparing the looks of Harvard women, made a striking claim: “The masculine energy is good. Society has plenty of that, but I think corporate culture is really trying to get away from it. All these forms of energy are good, and I think having a culture that celebrates the aggression a bit more has its own merits.”
Still, it was hard to see how Meta – where just 36% of employees are women and only four of 15 board members are female – could be suffering from a masculinity deficit. But that is the spirit of the times: Zuckerberg’s new Trump-aligned allies believe society has become “neutered or emasculated,” as he put it to Rogan. And he seemed eager to show them he was firmly on their side in this Battle of the Sexes.
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