There is no toxic masculinity, only toxic people. The term toxic masculinity serves no purpose other than to denigrate a class of people that share masculine characteristics. It's ironic that I most often see the concept pushed by people that claim to be against sexism.
Well, toxic masculinity isn't really a thing I recognize.
There is masculinity but claiming it's toxic is an absurd form of shaming which rests on the assumption that there are masculine traits which are objectively toxic.
In my opinion, toxic masculinity is a political term, not a solidly scientific one. Whatever the case, the nomenclature definitely does not fit the bill of abject observation associated with science. While the term isn't synonymous with misandry, the very notion contains misandric elements and value judgement. Harm is in the eye of the beholder, especially when it comes to inculturation and socialisation.
It is my firm hope that the public debate can move beyond firmly entrenching further into the male-female dichotomy and start to see all human behaviour as part of a spectrum, where gender norms are clearly understood to be a statistical tendency but not a rule. "Toxic masculinity" does nothing to further that goal.
>The reality is, proponents of the idea of "toxic masculinity" provide almost no examples of "healthy masculinity" (or "toxic femininity").
Almost any article you read about toxic masculinity and in every discussion where it comes up, proponents take pains to point out, often in laborious detail, and to futile effect, that the term isn't meant to assign toxicity to all masculine behaviors. One shouldn't need to provide a list of "non-toxic" masculine behaviors as well as a list of "toxic feminine" behaviors in order for the concept to be understood as presented.
The people using toxic masculinity in mainstream conversation to mean "all masculinity is toxic" are, primarily, its opponents, not its proponents.
Right, that stereotype, and its use to justify sexual assault, is absolutely toxic. But there's nothing masculine about it, hence my objection to using the phrase "toxic masculinity" to describe it.
I'm unaware of any social circles use the term "toxic masculinity" and are not using it to smear men. People outside of those bubbles do not use the term at all, probably because its pretty offensive to males.
It can easily be "misunderstood" by people arguing in bad faith, but that's true of any term; "toxic masculinity" remains a useful phrase for referring to a particular set of beliefs and behaviours.
What's frustrating is that the term "toxic masculinity" describes something very real. Unfocused masculine energy can drive very negative behavior, from hypersexuality to aggression to the desire of dominance and extreme novelty seeking. But describing it under the term "toxic masculinity" destroys conversation because of the implication that all masculinity is bad, which is just not the case.
It's much like talking about "neurotic feminity." There's something to it, but it's not a good way to frame it.
> People refer to toxic masculinity, a set of problematic behaviors some men exhibit as part of attempting to appear "manly" that includes traits such as: homophobia, glorifying unhealthy habits (e.g., drinking like a man, don't cry like a woman, mental health issues depicted as "weakness", etc.) They're not referring to masculinity, itself, as being toxic.
Yes, toxic masculinity ? masculinity. Broadly speaking, toxic masculinity has to do with behaviors that are deleterious to the one behaving that way, others, or both. Nobody is going to claim for example that a man’s efforts to be a warm, supportive father who strives to be his family’s rock (a pretty traditional male archetype) are toxic.
> Who would insult men for being biologically male?
If you can't see through the rhetorical bent of the term "toxic masculinity," then I will try to show you how I see it. To argue that this isn't an attack on masculinity, let's replace the noun only. It's like saying "toxic communism" but arguing that the phrase is not an attack on communism.
Are you saying there is a special, clearly defined sort of masculinity that is toxic, yet extricable from masculinity itself? That's a tall order.
Do you have a suggestion for a better term instead of "toxic masculinity"? I haven't found any replacement that describes the same thing while not falling under the same problem.
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