'Toxic masculinity is defined by adherence to traditional male gender roles that restrict the kinds of emotions allowable for boys and men to express, including social expectations that men seek to be dominant (the "alpha male") and limit their emotional range primarily to expressions of anger.'Examples of toxic masculinity:
- The pervasive idea of male-female interactions as competition, not cooperation.
- The pervasive idea that men cannot truly understand women, and vice versa--and following, that no true companionship can be had between different sexes.
- The expectation that Real Men are strong, and that showing emotion is incompatible with being strong. Anger is either framed as the exception to the rule, or as not an emotion.
- Relatedly, the idea that a Real Man cannot be a victim of abuse, or that talking about it is shameful.
- The idea that Real Men should be prepared to be violent, even when it is not called for.
- Emasculation: the idea that there is a range of feminine interests and activities a Real Man would not hold, and that disprove a man's masculinity regardless of his other actions:
- interest in one's personal looks, cosmetics, dressing up, fashion
- being emotional, expressing emotion, crying
- appreciating "frivolous" things such as sugary "girly" drinks, romantic styles, cute animal videos, romcom flicks
- understanding women, being sympathetic
- being silly, giddy
- needing help, not-knowing
No comments:
Post a Comment