Mailer has never had a macho image. He worshipped Hemingway, suggesting in Advertisements for Myself that H. should run for president.
He fashioned himself as a 5'3" tough guy, but despite his slap fights with Gore Vidal and his boxing match with Ryan O'Neil (which he lost) and his occasional street fight (all of which he lost) and his writing about boxing (which was terrible and had nothing to do with boxing), and his cultivation of a convict, he has never created a persona other than an Elmer Fudd-like clown who whispers to his opponent, "No hitting in the face, right?".
Mailer's a victim, don't you know? LOL. I guess he can blame his
insecurity about his height for all of his aberrations, including this rant.