In today's world, the idea of toxic masculinity surrounds us. Toxic masculinity is universally defined as as the archetypal image of what it means to be masculine becomes harmful and aspirational. It thrives by penalizing behavior which does not conform to its standard and celebrating behavior which does. My question is is there something wrong about ambition and wanting to get up in the morning and wanting to take your place in society? I feel as if the idea of this toxic masculinity is saying that society is an oppressive patriarchy responsible for everything that is wrong in today's world, when that is not the case at all.
The masculine spirit is extremely necessary. It is not fundamentally rape culture, it is not fundamentally world destroying. Many men seem to struggle to be a man nowadays, and Jordan Peterson, a Canadian clinical psychologist, explains how it is not only okay to be a man nowadays, but how it is extremely necessary. "What the hell are we going to do without men ," Peterson states, "You look around the cities and see all these buildings go up, these men are doing impossible things. They are under the streets working on the sewers, they are on the power lines in the storms in the rain, they are keeping this impossible infrastructure functioning, this thing that works in a miraculous manner. They work themselves to death, and often literally. The gratitude for that is sorely lacking especially among the people that should be most grateful." Peterson goes on to say, "It's very useful to tell, everyone, not just men, that they have an important role to play, a necessary role, and that if they act properly and honestly and forthrightly that they can put their lives together and they can help their family's and they can make their communities better, and that's not toxic masculinity." This is something that is completely neglected when Michael Ian Black, an American comedian, states that "America's boys are broken. And it's killing us."
If this idea of toxic masculinity is a real problem, then why is that so? From the start, we have to train men to be gentlemen. Society now excepts this whole toxic masculinity notion that masculinity, in itself, is toxic, that assertiveness and agression in males is a trait to be wiped out, when in actuality masculinity is a trait to be cultivated in protection to women and children. That is ultimately what civilization is built on. If men are given no direction, they will turn to the worst possible direction and that is where society has continually done wrong to young boys. When Matt Labash, an American author and journalist, said in his composure in the New York Times, Not Your Father's Masculinity, "But after years of #MeToo scandals, which have revealed weirdos and perverts and sex criminals (and that’s just R. Kelly), “toxic masculinity” is now regarded as tautology in some quarters. In more than a few tellings today, just to be a man is to be toxic." My father never sat me down and said, "Nolan, don't be a pervert, don't rape women." He said it's my job to protect women like my mother and my sister, and to be a good person. My father instilled in me a positive system of morals and values and that's something that needs to be done with all young boys.
Why exactly are we talking about toxic masculinity in the first place? Pre-Covid 19, crime rates in the United States and in North America more broadly have dropped by 50% in the last 25 years, which includes nearly every category of violent crime. I proposed a widely accepted definition of what toxic masculinity is in my opening statement, but I think it is very poorly defined still. I find it quite appalling that institutions are pushing this type of nonsense. If people are concerned about aggression and violence per say, the statistic I mentioned above shows clearly that we are doing well in that forepart.
When thinking back to Tough Guise 2, a video on how men these days are toxic, I think back to a specific scene. A party was going on and there was an unconcious girl that the boys were making fun of, saying horrible words such as, "She got raped so hard!" This is purely sinful. Instead of calling this action toxic masculinity and saying that men in general are all like this, I think a better phrase woukld be "sinful behavior." Men and women both make their fair share of mistakes, but that has nothing to do with toxicity. In other words, sinful behavior is something we all fall victim to in our lifetimes, and this, in my opinion, is a more mature, educated phrase to call unruly behvaior. Toxic masculinity, or even feminin ity in this case is just nonsense.
To cap this conversation off, this is just as likely to happen among women as among men, in which case it's not toxic masculinity.
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