Toxic Masculinity

    

     Whether we realize it or not, toxic masculinity is plaguing the United States. In the movie Tough Guise 2, director Jackson Katz, describes what toxic masculinity is and how it is affecting men today. Personally, I had heard very little on the topic, and was shocked when I found out the truth about why many men behave the way they do. 

   Growing up as a girl, I was never shamed for crying or showing emotion. In fact, it was completely normal. But, I grew older and realized that men were not granted the same privileges. Katz explains why this is: toxic masculinity. From a young age boys are told to be tough and hide their emotions. And when they do show their emotions, they are called harsh nicknames and made fun of. Unfortunately, this type of behavior is cyclical, and roots back to old fashioned and outdated stereotypes. The idea that men need to constantly be tough and mighty, has very negative impacts. All of this pressure put on men, causes anger and tension to build up, resulting in men often becoming violent to make them seem manlier or release built up anger and sadness . This could be a form of bullying or as catastrophic as a school shooting. In fact, almost all school shootings have been done by men. Most of them, by men who were severely bullied, resulting in them doing shootings, to gain back their masculinity. 

  Once the idea of toxic masculinity is known, we need to know how to proceed. In the article "The Boys Are Not All Right", Michael Ian Black discusses how he is not sure to proceed in dismantling toxic masculinity , but understands that it is important for men to be able to be vulnerable and show emotion, while maintaining their masculinity. He suggests the men use the feminist movement as inspiration and work towards changing the idea of what masculinity really is. As a woman, I took note of Matt Labash's idea that the ones who have judgements on masculinity, are the ones who are not men. He presents this idea in his article "Not Your Father's Masculinity". I think it is important to leave the idea of  what masculinity is up to men, but to also consider what women have to say about toxic masculinity, because they are often the victims of it. 

   As we continue on the journey of redefining what masculinity is, we need to take into account what it isn't. It is so important that men do not feel that they always have to be strong. At the end of the day, we are all humans, with feelings that need to be expressed. It is best that they are expressed in a healthy way and in an environment where men do not feel robbed of their masculinity for expressing how they feel.