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What's the deal with Toxic Masculinity?

Toxic masculinity is a concept that I'm sure is not foreign to many of us. We hear about it and its prominence in television, movies, commercials, and other forms of media. Here, I plan to really dissect what exactly constitutes toxic masculinity, and offer some of my thoughts on it.

Toxic masculinity is the acceptance and normalization of actions and norms/actions deemed appropriate for men to take within society that often prove to be detrimental in other aspects of their lives, or detrimental to those around them. A common and modern example of men practicing toxic masculinity would be men bragging about how many women they've slept with or how sexually active with women they are; the more, the better.

As of recent, I've noted 3 pieces that touch of the topic of toxic masculinity, with the first being a documentary by the name of Tough Guise 2. The other two being NY Times articles, one by the name of "The Boys are Not Right", and the other being named "Not Your Father's Masculinity". I feel each piece did a great job touching on the subject, and really giving people insight to toxic masculinity. I especially feel in "Not Your Father's Masculinity", it gave me a new perspective to view toxic masculinity from, or really just masculinity in general. In short, it touched on how many men are confused with what it means to be a man, or be masculine, and really showed me how diverse masculinity is and how the definition varies from person to person. In Tough Guise 2, it goes into depth about how women and men share many difficulties like mental health issues and such, however acts of violence (like school shootings, for a more extreme example), are more prominent and commonly seen among men than women. Personally, I feel this boils down to the fact society has shaped men to suppress their emotions, whereas women are given more leeway when it comes to expressing their emotions, as society commonly regards women as "emotional beings".

Our society as a whole has a lot of work to do in regards to addressing the issue of toxic masculinity, and coming to a resolve about what it means to be a man, or be masculine.



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