Attention

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not represent our advertisers

Tuesday, February 05, 2019

‘Toxic Masculinity’ is Misnamed

“Toxic masculinity” has become one of the latest rallying cries on the left, a new way to attack a favorite target, white men. All kinds of behavior is lumped in under this label. Men who rape women are labeled the same as men who play contact sports. Instead of specifically describing “toxic rapists” or similar, the phrase implies that all men are toxic.

But it’s not accurate. Not all men are toxic. Rapists, abusers, murderers, etc. are toxic. Children’s sports coaches, pastors and men who are caregivers are not. Gillette came out with a controversial ad last month condemning toxic masculinity. It featured men looking the other way as boys behaved badly. But what kind of men did it show? Not thugs and absentee fathers. As author Barbara McKaypointed out, these were neatly dressed, middle-class men barbecuing. These are fathers “deeply invested in family life.” But the ad made it look like even the best of regular, good guys enable toxic behavior by their gender.

More

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gillette should concentrate on making only pink razors.

Anonymous said...

They've gone a long way down from the time that they were the main sponsors of all those manly sports, especially boxing.

Anonymous said...

As a woman I agree with this article. My husband father brothers are Harding working family men. They don't need to be compared to rapists. Just read an article that Democrat congressional women are wearing white to the Presidents State of the Union speech. They want Trump and America that they are not giving up what they have earned in last 10 years. Instead of protecting they should be thankful for what they have. Sadly it is the year of the women. Need a woman President. Not. Media wanted a black President. We have there before let's not go there again. I have no problem with a woman President if we had one that actually cared for America. God help us.

Anonymous said...

More attempts to wussify the men of America. I guess they want LGBTQ and W.

Anonymous said...

Real men are confident of who they are.Trying to label them as toxic just causes them to grin a bit more as they carry on with their lives.

Anonymous said...

I used to have a pastor that always gave the same Mother's Day sermons, and the same Father's day sermons. Every mother would be praised as "saints" to their families on Mother's Day. But every Father's Day, the sermon was all about how fathers, ALL fathers, needed to be better fathers. In the Father's Day sermons, there are NO fathers that are saints, just fathers that need to be better fathers. Both Mother's Day and Father's Day sermons were "packaged" sermons that were re-played every year. I hope that pastor sees my post, and recognizes himself. I quit the church over his praising ALL the women, while chastising ALL the men in the congregation. But, of course, he probably knows who makes most of the donations to the church. Just economics to him. Many, if not most, women in his church are divorced, have been divorced, or are widowed. No surprise there! Pastor isn't really much of a family man, even in his own life.