Users of Zyn, a brand of nicotine pouch that’s become a touchstone among right-wing commentators, extol its ability to free the mind, increase productivity, and even enhance sexual performance.
“I use it every second I’m awake,” said Tucker Carlson on an episode of the Full Send comedy podcast in 2023. “Seconds before I fall asleep, I take it out.”
There’s no evidence to promote Zyn as a sexual aid; nicotine actually constricts blood vessels, which can increase the risk of erectile dysfunction. The addictive substance can also raise blood sugar and blood pressure and may harden the walls of arteries, raising the chance of a heart attack.
Nonetheless, Zyn has become part of a particularly politicized 2024 vision of masculinity: It’s about efficiency, rising and grinding, “taking on the world.”
That hyped-up ethos of Zyn — call it mascuzynity, in honor of Zyn aficionados’ affection for adding “Zyn” to other words — is part of a larger narrative that’s being sold to young American men by tech entrepreneurs like Elon Musk, misogynist influencers like Andrew Tate, hustle gurus on TikTok, and, to some degree, Donald Trump and his loyalists within the Republican Party. While not all of these figures are hyping nicotine pouches, they are pushing some variant of the idea that men can reclaim a lost dominance through a hypercapitalistic (even fascistic) focus on achievement and the perfection of the body.
“A man with nicotine, protein, caffeine, and creatine coursing through his veins is an unstoppable force,” Greg Price, the communications director at the State Freedom Caucus Network, a group that works to get conservatives elected to state legislatures, recently told Semafor.
Some of the Zyn boosting by right-wing pundits is probably tongue (or Zyn) in cheek, or an effort to troll liberals. Obviously, most guys aren’t expecting to take over the world when they pop a Zyn. They’re just looking for a hit of nicotine, like…
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