Toxic Masculinity : Substance Masculinity

In the article “Toxic Masculinity Is Killing Men: The Roots of Male Trauma,” Kali Holloway explains why the ideal of masculinity is so unrealistic and harmful to men. Holloway also gives many studies and writings to back the idea that to be a strong man you have to suppress feelings and pain. In these studies, it proclaims that both men and women start off equally feminine as babies and that these ideas are taught to boys and girls as they grow up learning how to “be a man.” Holloway goes on to say that masculinity is not just taught by parents, but also taught through television and movies that portray men as masculine and strong. There are many examples given showing the ways men release their stress differently than women. This makes it

Hypermasculinity requires a man to be, frankly, emotionally constipated. He cannot show tears or sadness. Many young boys are told to stop crying and “man up”. By repressing natural expressions of emotion such as crying, men have withdrawn emotional states. Men being forced to repress their emotions and being raised into fearfulness of expressing these emotions, is dangerous. This emotional repression makes men more susceptible to depression and eventually suicide. Depression is commonly seen in the image of a highschool girl with no friends who is sad all the time. But that’s just not the case with most depressed people. Depression is less sadness and more emotional disconnect. This emotional disconnect of depression can be found in both men and women. Yet the same emotional disconnect of depression is something men are forced into feeling. The feeling of having to hide emotions or not being able to feel at all are signs of depression, but are the sort of traits society wants men to have- in order to Act Like A Man. When men do show emotion, it must be raw and powerful and dominating. It has to be a play of power against other men and especially a play to show power over women. They fight. And, in the most extreme case, they kill.

William Pollack, in his article “Inside the World of Boys: Behind the Mask of Masculinity”, discusses on how boy tries to hide behind the mask and the stereotypical of masculinity. He demonstrates how boy hide their deepest though and feelings and real self. Pollack open the essay with “a fourteen-year-old boy, he is doing badly in school and he might fail algebra, but when teacher or his parent ask about it, he said everything is just fine. He hide his true identity behind the mask, and let no one see his true self.” After read the story, I think the story is really useful source to write an essay about how boy become men and they are emotionless.

While it is normally considered acceptable for women to be feminine and show their sensitive side, if a guy does this, he will often be made fun of. I think this is a good example of patriarchy within our society – being a strong alpha male is considered a good thing, and being feminine and sensitive is considered weak and bad. I watched an interesting documentary last year in my psychology class about toxic masculinity and the affect it has on boys even at a young age. In many traditional families, parents teach their boys to toughen up or “man up” if they are hurt, instead of allowing them to be emotional. Boys often feel as though they have to constantly be tough and brave, and are not allowed to show any type of emotion because it is considered weak. This is extremely toxic behavior to teach young children, and often causes issues as the child grows up. All children should be taught that they should be free to express themselves however they want, regardless of their

Stephen Bonnycastle lists a set of traits or stereotypes in his work In Search for Authority, that are considered "feminine" and an opposing list that is considered "masculine"; these traits seem to be inevitably true to life (Bonnycastle 10,11). For example, one of the traits listed is emotional, women are expected to be emotional and when this is not the case a man is often confused and indifferent towards the woman. This is especially the case if she is not emotional she is viewed as not feminine. Any time a woman does not fit the idea of what society expects of her she is outcasted and frowned upon. This hatred runs even deeper if a woman crosses over into what is considered "masculine", a woman who shows any type of authority over a

that labels these things unmanly, feminine, womanly, and gay, and teaches boys to avoid them at all costs.” If these characteristics are things that men have, and make them a better person, why is it so merely reinforced by society that men shouldn’t have the qualities? If a guy is blocking these out because they’re not manly, there could be some serious repercussions. These characteristics that are generally associated with women are made fun of in men and they often feel their masculinity is becoming threatened. Due to this men may suppress certain emotional issues, especially around other men. An example of this is shown in the book Passing: When People Can’t Be Who They Are by Brooke Kroeger. In chapter one, Not Some Social Agenda Struggle, Kroeger tells the story of David Matthews, a young man who is caught between two races as he struggles to find his identity. David was raised in a single parent household with his father raising him. He brings up how he and his dad rarely talked about his mother or anything emotional saying, “We were just tough guys and it just didn’t seem like the kind of touchy-feely stuff I needed to know”. Here David shows that he and his dad both feel they are too tough to talk about touchy issues that he

In the world people idolize the idea of the aggressive and powerful man, but this is a dangerous icon to present to children. Taken to an extreme it can cause the cycle of toxic masculinity to begin. Toxic masculinity is a dangerous set of ideals and beliefs, it provides a dangerous mindset of violent behavior to young boys, leads to anger issues, depression, and a severe urge to compensate for perceived inadequacies by the use of violence in the teenage years, can lead to an adulthood filled with violence towards family, and others, and allows the cycle to repeat.

To read Babio without recognizing the gender politics at work in the play would disregard much of how the play itself creates meaning. So much of the play’s plot and character dynamics are related to the way gender functions in this play. One major theme of Babio is the idea of masculinity and how masculinity is defined. Through the portrayal of Babio as an effeminate character, Babio is able to define masculinity through absences in Babio’s Character. Consequently, Babio makes the additional point that lovesickness is not an intrinsic aspect of medieval masculinity, despite the fact that love sickness is often attributed to men.

The myth of gender roles plays a pivotal role in This Boy’s Life- A Memoir by Tobias Wolff. Specifically, the myth of masculinity shapes much of the actions and experiences that occur. Toxic masculinity is commonly described as socially-constructed attitudes that describe men as being violent, unemotional, and sexually aggressive. The rules of masculinity that are implied in the memoir include displays of physical dominance such as fighting against others, use of weapons for power and control, domestic violence, and trying to win at everything. Sexual virility is discussed as bragging about sexual conquests and talking crudely about women around other men but generally trying to be hyper sexual. Another, key aspect of masculinity is to not show any emotion as others will perceive you as being weak which leads characters being unable to express how they feel about themselves and their conflicts. Males are taught to not get mad but to get even; this means retaliating by stealing or other means in order to get revenge. Within the memoir, Tobias’ perception of masculinity and his idea of what man should look and act like is demonstrated through Roy. Qualities that include being: “an expert hunter, conventionally handsome, [a mechanic or handy in general], does not need to talk more than needed, having a tattoo”(14). The myth of masculinity pigeonholes males from This Boy’s Life- A Memoir by Tobias Wolff by making them believe that they must act in a certain way in order to be

The behavior Katz discusses in regards to the taught behavior of boy code by William Pollack, in which boys are taught at a very young age to mask their feelings and act tough. Michael Kimmel then extended Pollack’s boy code into guy code, for late adolescents to young adulthood, in which young men police each other into conformity with dictates about manhood that come with an implicit and sometimes explicit warning. Katz says that basic qualities like compassion, caring, fear, empathy, vulnerability are driven out of boys by a sexist and homophobic culture that labels these actions/feelings as feminine or gay. Men are afraid to communicate these emotions in fear of violent backlash via other men. It’s sad to think that men can’t articulate

When you hear the phrase “toxic masculinity”, it’s usually used as a joke. However, there’s a reason that it’s a concept. “Toxic masculinity” is a social science term used to describe the phenomenon within a society where “masculine” traits, such as anger, violence, egotism, contempt, aggression, as well as showing destructive or apathetic behavior, are rewarded. Normally, these traits are regulated by law and society. When the boys are taken out of society, however, they have no restraints, leading to the boys relying on these traits. In their minds, aggression and violence are good; however, a successful society cannot be made from violence.

Stop crying, boys don’t cry is the most common phrase typically used by parents when raising their little boys to become true men, yet what the parents do not acknowledge is that they are also teaching them to shun their emotions. Shunning their emotions can cause psychological harm to the individual by making them believe that their emotions must be concealed from everyone around them. Remarks such as don’t be a sissy, take it like a man and boys have to be tough aside from implying that they must not show negative emotions also implies a negative connotation toward women. Although it may seem like most research is done in where more positive emotions are regarded to the physic of the man than negative emotions not much has been focused on how keeping negative emotions to themselves becomes risky for the individual as they age.

This dissertation explores an emerging masculinity with an unlikely genesis stemming from a television program called My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. I call this developing form of masculinity “concordant masculinity” which defines itself through harmony by means of collaboration and agreement without coercion or appropriation. This form of masculinity varies from other structures of the term in that it allows for greater gender fluidity and a wider array of gender performances while further fracturing contemporary understandings of traditional masculinity. Simultaneously, concordant masculinity does not dismiss or marginalize other types of masculinity as previous constructs have a tendency to do. Moreover, compromise is a key component

Society is the number one determinant on how an individual is supposed to act given their sex. If an individual is born with male reproductive parts, they must act a certain way in order to be accepted by the larger population. When a boy starts to engage in certain activities that are not defined as masculine he is shamed, and it is unbelievably hard to maintain his social status that he may have once had, or was striving to attain. There are a few different theories when it comes to masculinity and how it is defined. Also, actions that may be engaged that could hurt a male’s ego, are expressing health concerns.

1)Tony Porter’s TEDTalk “A Call to Men” discusses many aspects of manhood which are the construction of manhood and and violence against women. First, men are taught to be tough, strong, and courageous and that they should always display an image of toughness and that they should never cry in front of anybody. As showing emotion, crying is a very feminine attribute and it’s inhumane for a man to possess feminine attributes. Thus, this results in men showing false strength towards other men to receive respect. Furthermore, men begin to pressure the women in their lives with their toughness which frightens the women and they begin to follow what the men command. Second, Tony emphasizes that men are taught they are superior whereas women are inferior.