Toxic Masculinity vs. Men
By: Tyra Baker
April 8, 2022On tik tok, one of the most popular social medias, two men are seen talking to each other and they get into argument. Both men pullout their guns and shoot at the each other. If men felt like they didn't have to prove themselves because of toxic masculinity, the whole situation could have been avoided. Ms. Moore, a sociology teacher at Carver High School, said that we have a very narrow definition of what masculinity is.
Masculinity always relates to men because of the stereotype that men always have to be stronger and provide for everyone else and not show emotion. Mr. Tyrone, a contractor who works with men and boys, said toxic masculinity affects men mentally.
“The greatest weapon that you have as your mind and toxic masculinity affects your mental state,” He said. “It affects your mind first, and then if it controls your thinking, then your body and your actions are going to be right behind it,” He said.
These statistics from this site shows the comparison of the most suicides committed over the years by both men and women.
One in five men will not reach the age of 50 in the Americas due to issues related to Toxic Masculinity. This report also highlights that one out of five five men die in the Americas because of heart disease, interpersonal violence and road accidents that are directly related to socially constructed macho behaviors. This is because of the pressure being put on men.
“Normal human emotions and behaviors, like showing vulnerability, or taking care of your health or cultivating friendships or responsible behaviors,” Moore said. “ And those things are sometimes gendered and sometimes feminized, but they're just human. They're human behaviors,” She said.
Men are told to bottle up their feelings and told not to cry. When all those feelings build up bad things like road rage, depression, anger issues, and possibly suicide and jail
“You weren’t planning on doing anything to harm anyone but then one thing happens and it makes all the built up anger boil over and you end up doing something you regret,” Tyrone said.
Even before the early 90s, men were always seen to be the stronger ones and the ones who earn money and work. Toxic masculinity has been passed down for a long period of time and it will be hard to get rid of it.
“I think we start to celebrate all the different ways in which people can identify as men,” Moore said. “We should stop identifying stuff in gendered ways as being feminine or masculine and just celebrate being human. I think we have to start having some honest conversations about what we believe about gender. We have to start calling folks out for behaviors that are stereotypical, but we also have to start calling people in.”
We can change this Toxic Masculinity one person at a time. When men show other men and boys how to act, they could possibly be saving a life. There are programs such as The ManKind project. The Mankind Project is a global network that works with men and helps them live lives of integrity.
“It's not useful to just say, you know, I see this toxic behavior and you're canceled,” Moore said. “It's, I see this behavior and I'm concerned about you and what can we do.