Traditional masculinity is, arguably, also vilified on TOS.
Note, for example, the admiration that Kirk, McCoy, and Scotty express for the "Napoleons" of the eugenics wars (the manly men who conquered the world). There is an efficacy and a will in Khan, that they cannot help but admire. Khan lived in an interesting time, but as civilized space men, they could never so boldly grasp the nettle as these manly men did.
In Abraham Lincoln's Lyceum Address, a similar sort of admiration/fear can be seen. Lincoln had the feeling that all the interesting American history had passed him by as a youth. The Founding Fathers were men who lived at a time when bold action was required to bring forth a Republic. Lincoln, born a generation too late, could never be part of this manly pantheon. The time for bold leading men was over and the time for domesticated democratic men was at hand. For Lincoln, the equivalent of a Khan was Napoleon Bonaparte - it was precisely the sort of bold man of genius who could seize a nation that democracy needed to guard itself against:
Through that period [the formation of the American nation], it was felt by all, to be an undecided experiment; now, it is understood to be a successful one.--Then, all that sought celebrity and fame, and distinction, expected to find them in the success of that experiment. Their all was staked upon it:-- their destiny was inseparably linked with it. Their ambition aspired to display before an admiring world, a practical demonstration of the truth of a proposition, which had hitherto been considered, at best no better, than problematical; namely, the capability of a people to govern themselves. If they succeeded, they were to be immortalized; their names were to be transferred to counties and cities, and rivers and mountains; and to be revered and sung, and toasted through all time. If they failed, they were to be called knaves and fools, and fanatics for a fleeting hour; then to sink and be forgotten. They succeeded. The experiment is successful; and thousands have won their deathless names in making it so. But the game is caught; and I believe it is true, that with the catching, end the pleasures of the chase. This field of glory is harvested, and the crop is already appropriated.
Lincoln tells us above that the manly men who made our nation succeeded. Lincoln continues to warn his audience that it is precisely these sort of men who would pose a threat to America.
But new reapers will arise, and they, too, will seek a field. It is to deny, what the history of the world tells us is true, to suppose that men of ambition and talents will not continue to spring up amongst us. And, when they do, they will as naturally seek the gratification of their ruling passion, as others have so done before them. The question then, is, can that gratification be found in supporting and maintaining an edifice that has been erected by others? Most certainly it cannot. Many great and good men sufficiently qualified for any task they should undertake, may ever be found, whose ambition would inspire to nothing beyond a seat in Congress, a gubernatorial or a presidential chair; but such belong not to the family of the lion, or the tribe of the eagle.
Manly men - those of the tribe of predator, the lion or eagle, we are told, would never settle for a mere share of power in a democracy. Great men of genius, the apotheosis of manly virtue, would rather be rulers.
What! think you these places would satisfy an Alexander, a Caesar, or a Napoleon?--Never! Towering genius distains a beaten path. It seeks regions hitherto unexplored.--It sees no distinction in adding story to story, upon the monuments of fame, erected to the memory of others.. It denies that it is glory enough to serve under any chief. It scorns to tread in the footsteps of any predecessor, however illustrious. It thirsts and burns for distinction; and, if possible, it will have it, whether at the expense of emancipating slaves, or enslaving freemen.
In short, from Lincoln's point of view, the time of the superman was now properly over and the meek should inherit the apparatus of democracy, carefully guarding against the next Napoleon who would tear down the existing world to make his mark.
Kirk has heard all he needs to hear from Khan when Khan remarks that his people are superior and will "do well in your century." Khan is one who would disrupt meek equality of civil government and return to the primal male pattern of the lion and the eagle. Kirk's solution is to contain Khan in a world that his supermen can set about taming. Khan can have his ambition. Kirk can keep the rest of the universe safe from it.
The sense that we get in Star Trek is that manly men are outmoded. They need to be neutered, domesticated, even feminized in some way to prevent them from being destructive. Recall all the times Kirk refered to humans being a killer species and having savage impulses. TOS men are like housecats who can, from a distance, admire the freedom of the feral cat to hunt and stalk and mate at will.
In short, masculinity is itself dangerous and is something which needs to be controlled, conditioned against, and possibly even changed for humans to evolve beyond being savages.
