What the Zuck Is ‘Masculine Energy?’

META CEO MARK Zuckerberg made headlines this week when he stated that “masculine energy” needs to return to the workplace. Speaking to—who else?—podcaster Joe Rogan during a three-hour appearance on his eponymous show, the Facebook founder bemoaned what he sees as a “neutered” corporate culture.

“I think a lot of the corporate world is pretty culturally neutered. Masculine energy is good, and obviously, society has plenty of that, but I think corporate culture was really trying to get away from it,” he said. “I think having a culture that celebrates the aggression a bit more has its own merits that are really positive.”

Equating “masculinity” with “aggression,” as Zuckerberg did in his conversation with Rogan, is gender essentialism 101: it paints men as the warriors, the leaders, the pioneers, and conversely casts women as… well, the opposite. But suggesting that more aggression is needed in the office just makes this tech CEO sound like somebody who has never heard of an HR department. (He has previously joked that his employees call him the “Eye of Sauron” without seeming to understand the negative connotations of the comparison, so that figures.)

It’s not just that aggression is the last thing anyone should have to deal with in their place of work. It’s that Zuckerberg’s complaints about a “neutered” corporate America ring so untrue. While there have been incremental steps towards gender equity in the workplace, the numbers don’t lie: Women remain underrepresented in the top management of U.S. companies, with a Catalyst report indicating that women occupied merely 41 CEO positions at S&P 500 companies in 2023. That’s just 8.2 percent.

If leadership in the American workplace is still majority male, then where did all that so-called “masculine energy” go? Is it possible that we realized we could do, and deserve, better? The aggressive, bullish, frightening-to-many kind of manhood Zuck says we’re missing in the workplace has another name in modern parlance that may sound all-too-familiar: toxic masculinity. Honestly, who wants a toxic coworker?

And what does “masculine energy” even mean, anyway?

It’s 2025. Guys are redefining masculinity on their own terms. Men like Pedro Pascal, Dwyane Wade, Jason Kelce, Shawn Mendes and The Rock have used their place in the spotlight to show that men can cry, talk about their feelings, express themselves freely, and be allies to others. Meanwhile billionaires like Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk’s pantomimish performances of old-school manliness—challenging each other to MMA fights and flexing on yachts—look increasingly silly.

Casually parroting culture war terms like “masculine energy” could arguably just be Zuckerberg’s attempt at courting TikTok-loving Gen Z users back to Instagram and Facebook. This would certainly explain the new aesthetic: his longer, curly hairstyle, oversized T-shirt and flashy chain have him looking like a long-lost Paul brother.

It’s weird though, that for somebody whose wealth and influence makes him near-untouchable, Zuckerberg is picking this battle. But when you’re as rich and powerful as Zuckerberg, words matter. And besides, it’s not just talk. He’s decided to walk the walk too.

“It’s one thing to say we want to be welcoming and make a good environment for everyone, and I think it’s another to basically say that ‘masculinity is bad,'” Zuckerberg told Rogan. (Not that anybody is saying masculinity is bad—just maybe due an updated, more expansive definition!) Although it is unclear whether that so-called “good environment” is still a priority for him at all. It was recently announced that Meta would be removing protocols that restrict how users can discuss topics like immigration, sexuality, and gender identity. Around the same time, news broke that tampons were being removed from the men’s bathrooms in the Meta offices, making trans workers, at the very least, feel less welcomed at work.

These recent changes at Facebook and Instagram have prompted some users to consider deleting their accounts. Others have quick to point out that the entire trajectory of Zuckerberg’s career and success can be traced back to an origin point rooted in misogyny: the social network that made Zuckerberg both a billionaire and a household name started life as a platform on which he and his Harvard classmates could rank female students by their deemed attractiveness.

By singing the praises of “masculine energy,” you could say he’s come full-circle.