Op-Ed: Caleb Williams and Jared McCain like to Paint Their Nails, So What?

By: Zachary Draves

Throughout the ages, men have been conditioned to be tough, strong, dominant, unemotional, and never shown signs of weakness or vulnerability. Yet there seems to be a number of men on social media who are exuding weakness and vulnerability, while lacking any ounce of traditional masculine fortitude, at the sight of USC quarterback and future Chicago Bear Caleb Williams and Duke guard Jared McCain having the audacity to paint their nails.

Williams has been seen wearing nail polish for months now and was recently spotted sitting courtside at a women’s NCAA tournament game at USC where he was seen with his nails painted as well as holding a pink phone case and donning what appeared to be pink lip gloss.

(Courtesy: NCAA March Madness/X)

Afterward, he was savaged on social media with mostly men questioning his manhood, but he was the real man when he stood up for himself in a video post, showing off his unpainted nails and confirming that his lips are in fact pink and saying “your girl loves ‘em”.

(Courtesy: Getty Images)

It turns out that Williams paints his nails to honor his mother who is a nail technician and explained in an interview with USC legend Matt Leinart that he started doing it at the end of high school.

“It was my last year of high school, he said. “My mom does nails. Let’s just start it off there. She’s done it my whole life. It’s just kind of always been around me. Nobody else does it. I just kinda like to do new things.”

In other words, he is expressing appreciation for his mother and all she does and being true to himself. Clearly, that is not suitable for some who don’t know the guy and most likely never will, but Williams has made it clear that this is not his problem.

Then there is Jared McCain who has followed suit by donning his nails as a way to prevent him from biting his nails. Since then, he has taken agency over his aesthetic prowess in more ways than one as he signed an NIL deal with the nail polish brand Sally Hansen.

(Courtesy: Getty Images)

In a post on social media announcing the deal, he said “Sorry if that offends any of you guys”.

McCain has also made it clear that he is simply being who he is and is not interested in what others think about his choices.

This goes to show a real problem amongst some men at the idea of other men being allowed to be comfortable in their own skin and living their lives authentically in terms of how they present themselves.

(Courtesy: Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

But masculinity is very fluid and expresses itself in different ways beyond the bounds of rigid acceptability.

Clearly these men chastising Williams and McCain have forgotten Dennis Rodman, the ultimate androgynous male athlete who wasn’t the least bit shy in showcasing his unique abilities to push the envelope with his fashion, tattoos, piercings, and yes painted nails.

After all, this is the man who famously promoted his autobiography Bad as I Wanna Be while wearing a wedding dress, and looking quite fabulous in all honesty.

Or what about Michael Jordan wearing his iconic hoop earring? Nobody can deny that from head to toe he took really good care of himself, not to mention creating a line of cologne and skin care products.

Then outside of sports, male pop culture icons such as Kurt Cobain, Keith Richards, Brad Pitt, Steven Tyler, and others have been seen with their nails decorated with sheer beauty.

In an age where this is a real legitimate public health crisis affecting men in terms of their mental and emotional health, high rates of suicide, addiction, and loneliness, it is incumbent to create spaces for men to feel more secure in who they are and Williams and McCain are examples of what healthy masculinity look like.

That men can be fully human and take agency over their representation and that these artificial gendered lines of what is appropriate to wear and accessorize are in fact artificial.

Williams should be looked as possibly the savior for a Bears team that is desperate, to put it mildly, and the focus should be on whether McCain and Blue Devils can make it past the Sweet 16. Their fashion choices are their business and anyone who wastes precious time out of their day to post their venom are the ones who really need to look in the mirror.

Besides in sports, you have to look good to play good.