Andrew Klavan’s latest reaction to the online dust-up over “hoeflation” taps into a larger argument conservatives have been making for years: our sexual marketplace has been warped by technology and ideology, and ordinary men are paying the price. The term itself, ugly as it sounds, captures a grievance that many young men express about attention, scarcity, and shifting expectations in dating culture.
Hoeflation is a crude portmanteau that tries to describe how sexual signaling on social media and dating apps has changed the supply-and-demand dynamics between the sexes. What began as a meme in manosphere corners has leapt into college conversations and opinion pages because it taps a real feeling of dislocation among men who feel shut out of stable courting and marriage markets.
Conservative critics rightly point out the cultural forces behind these grievances: radical feminism’s redefinition of womanhood, the gamification of courtship by apps that reward surface-level attention, and a media culture that normalizes promiscuity while denigrating traditional family roles. These are not merely online complaints; they show up in falling marriage rates and a deeper loneliness epidemic among young men.
The debate has predictably spilled into talk panels and viral clips, with dating-coach circles and podcasters parsing the causes and critics pushing back at the tone and terminology. That this argument is being fought out in public squares is a sign our culture war is now a domestic social crisis, not just an abstract academic debate.
Unsurprisingly, many on the left and in the academy have accused observers of misogyny for even using the term or pointing to the trends it describes, which only proves the point: when honest observations about social consequences become taboo, the conversation goes underground and grows uglier. The charge of misogyny is often a reflexive way to shut down discussion rather than address why so many young people feel marriage and family are becoming unreachable.
Klavan and other conservative commentators are doing the necessary work of refusing that shame game: calling out the bad incentives, defending the dignity of stable family life, and refusing to let tech and trendy doctrines rewrite human nature without consequences. Conservatives should use this moment to push practical solutions—promote marriage, encourage sexual responsibility, and rebuild institutions that reward long-term commitment.
If you care about the future of America, this isn’t a sideshow. It’s a warning sign that cultural drift has economic and psychological costs that fall hardest on working men and the children who never arrive. We need a politics that restores incentives for marriage, rewards virtue over spectacle, and stops treating every social symptom as mere personal preference.
Patriots, take this seriously: defend decency, call out the bad incentives, and insist on a cultural narrative that honors family and responsibility. Klavan’s reaction is more than commentary; it’s a rallying cry to restore common sense and put our nation back on a course where young men and women can build real, lasting lives together.
