The Changing Ways of Toxic Masculinity

    In the modern world today, men and the stigma around men showing emotions and being feminine are finally starting to change; I think. In viewing the documentary, Tough Guise 2, Jackson Kratz, an anti-violence educator, brings to light the ideas that men are violent because of the world around them. Movies, video games, mental illness, all causing men to react to things in violent ways. Kratz gives examples like the Sandy Hook school shooting, bar fights, and bombings. But why is it that only men seem to have these violent outbursts, when women too live with similar circumstances. Society tells men that in order to be manly, you have to use violence to prove it. Kratz mentions that men are told not to adapt to the change of showing your emotions and being feminine because femininity equals weakness. 

     

    Similar to this, in the New York Times article, by Michael Ian Black, "The Boys are Not All Right," Black also points out how toxic masculinity is affecting society. One quote that stuck with me from his article is that "America’s boys are broken. And it’s killing us." Black talks about how if men just had the resources like women are given to talk about their emotions and for them to learn it is okay and not a sign of weakness, then maybe not all men would turn to violence. Men are trapped feeling like masculinity is just showing strength and about having power over others when that shouldn't be the case. But on the men's side of it, in the article "Not Your Father's Masculinity" Matt Labash says that being told how to be a man, by people who aren't men, is difficult. In reality though, why do people have to learn to be men or women, why can't we just learn to be people, with emotions, who talk to one another.