Liberal magazine The New Republic (TNR) garnered the scorn of critics after publishing an article Friday celebrating “petromasculinity” being rejected by younger generations, specifically those using online dating apps.

In the piece, headlined “‘Petromasculinity’ Is Becoming Toxic, Too—at Least to Online Daters,” TNR praised what appeared to be a shift in online daters preferring a potential partner who cares about climate change and “rejecting petromasculinity: the climate denial, authoritarian politics, and sexism that are too often inextricably linked.”

The dating app Tinder is shown on an Apple iPhone in this photo illustration taken February 10, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Blake/Illustration (REUTERS/Mike Blake/Illustration)

“Climate denial is not hot,” author Liza Featherstone wrote, while citing a report from The Hill that “climate denial” was the biggest dealbreaker for users of the dating app OkCupid.

The report noted 90% of users said it was important a potential partner cared about the planet, although TNR noted, “OkCupid’s data isn’t conducted like a formal public opinion survey and isn’t representative of the population at large.”

“This is the most committed OkCupid users have been to any issue, in the history of the company’s data collection on such subjects,” Featherstone wrote. “It adds to a growing body of research … showing that climate change has become central to many people’s emotional lives.”

Claiming a link between “climate denial” and “hostility to feminism,” Featherstone wrote, “Women were more likely than men to consider climate concern a necessary quality in a mate. The fact that there’s a gender gap isn’t surprising: After all, climate denial and a certain aggressive cartoon masculinity have long been deeply intertwined.”

“Fossil fuels have long been associated with a certain sort of red-blooded, heteronormative, nationalist masculinity,” she added, claiming it’s “hard to ignore the sexual innuendo” of former Alaska Governor and 2008 Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin yelling, “Drill, Baby, Drill.”

Featherstone said that climate-conscious behaviors and habits were often associated with femininity, leading to terms like “soy boy” being used to describe and mock a liberal male.

She added that “straight men’s anxiety about environmentalism” was “a huge problem,” and contributed to “the culture wars surrounding climate change.”

“But it seems a lot of online daters are rejecting this worldview. Taken alone, it would be encouraging even to learn that women of a certain demographic are done with petromasculinity and other deadly toxins,” she wrote, before noting that climate change was also a top concern for male respondents on OkCupid.

“Of course, some men will be offended by these findings. It’s not hard to imagine certain corners of the internet igniting over the fear that not only is AOC going to take their hamburgers, but climate denialists may have more trouble getting laid. The incels aren’t going to like this,” she added.

“But it seems possible that, among other things, our climate crisis will help change masculinity, or at least what is rewarded in men … Who wants to deal with someone too insecure to carry a reusable bag?” the article concluded.

Marc Andreessen Tweet

Marc Andreessen Tweet

Critics took to social media to mock TNR for the piece. 

“Ladies, normal men are now guilty of petromasculinity,” journalist Gabriella Hoffman joked, while also mocking TNR’s admission that the data its piece was based on wasn’t representative of the actual population.

“Can you imagine being single right now? My God,” wrote businessman Marc Andreessen, while actor and journalist Ben Dreyfuss argued “petromasculinity” was “not a real word.”