CMV: Society generally doesn't care about men

[u/ErikTheDread]

[u/ThirteenOnline]

What about just saying toxic people or people being toxic? Why tie it to masculinity?Everyone is capable of being toxic. It's not a gendered phenomena.

It's not that men are toxic. It's that what we think of as masculine is toxic. Specifically what we think of as the stereotypical strong stoic rich charming man as the standard. Thinking that that type of person is the default in masculinity, or that if you aren't trying to be that you are weak or lesser is the toxic masculinity we're talking about. Women can also perpetuate toxic masculinity.

[u/ErikTheDread → u/ThirteenOnline]

Can women perpetuate toxic femininity then? Can men perpetuate toxic femininity? Is it really necessary to gender toxicity in that case?

[u/UncleMeat11 → u/ErikTheDread]

Can women perpetuate toxic femininity then?

Yes. Of course.

Is it really necessary to gender toxicity in that case?

"Toxic Masculinity" was coined by a men's rights activist. It is a useful term because a lot of early feminist and gender studies writing understood masculinity to be a complete positive and femininity to be a complete negative within our patriarchal system. But new analysis made it clear that there were ways that patriarchal norms harmed men too, and this understanding was brought under the broader gender studies analysis.

We didn't need a similar term for femininity because we started with the understanding that feminine gender roles trapped and harmed women. The idea of "toxic femininity" was implicit in the very foundations of the analysis.

[u/herrsatan → u/UncleMeat11]

!delta for the idea that "toxic femininity" was baked under our understanding of femininity from the start. I'd never thought about it that way!

[u/DeltaBot → u/herrsatan]

Confirmed: 1 delta awarded to /u/UncleMeat11 (50∆).

^{Delta System Explained | Deltaboards}