Memes

"Toxic" has a wide range of uses outside just toxic masculinity or just describing men. One of the side effects of a very therapized society is wider recognizing that some people in your life are dragging you down because their behaviour is unhealthy for all parties. Before the reaction groomed mostly into women but men to a lesser degree was to shut up, take the abuse, take the hit to the psyche, self doctor yourself using coping mechanisms that don't address the problem directly and endure because the pressure was on being a dutiful, selfless sibling, child, partner, parent, friend etc.

Describing people as "toxic", while like any tool can be used wrongly or hurtfully gives people a tool to shake themselves out of that cycle. When used properly it empowers people to take their own status and wellbeing seriously when they are being taken for granted, abused or bullied so that they can source the problem and engage with people in a way that wins them their agency back. When we talk about "Toxic men" isn't effectively any different than talking about "toxic siblings" or "toxic friends" or "toxic parents" or "toxic narcissists" The only ways it differs is in the behaviour dynamics of the group in question. These people are all uniquely "toxic" but in each of those cases you probably gain a different picture of what that toxicity looks like. Those are not individuals, they are groups within our cultures the reclassification of which is systemic. What needs to be emphasized is that in all cases nobody should be forced into a relationship of any kind, friend, family or romantic. There is a society wide push for true emancipation of the individual free to establish and demolish social ties based on the merit of the tie.

In some ways this loneliness epidemic we're experiencing may in part be due to this renegotiation of relationships in a bid to make things better overall. One could argue the development of an expectation for too perfect boundaries is maybe a contributing factor but overall the attitude across the board is "enough is enough" and that isn't nessisarily a bad thing. If people are not forced into connections at a systemic level they can apply consent and engineer for everyone the understanding that people either must act at the very least decently if not kindly and with respect if they want deep connection.

So much of the discussion around the subject of toxic masculinity devolves into either the idea the people critiquing the behaviour are being mean towards and victimizing men but all discussions of toxic behaviours are not about victimizing the perpetrators, it's about advocating for better conditions for the targets.

Are you under the impression I'm conveying there is no problem?

The problem with the term "toxic masculinity" is what exactly can we describe as "positive" masculinity? Is masculinity only toxic, or are there positive things that aren't feminine?

Appreciate the support! <3

I mean everyone gets allergic from time to time but a thoughtful person will see this and adjust.

I guess It's hard for people to feel empathy towards those who they identify as the culprits of their suffering. And since, as humans, we have trouble separating the blame of individuals with the blame of the tribes they belong to... yeah, some people consider men the problem with an occasional "but not you/him" just like some other people consider feminism/sts the problem with an occasional "but not this part/these ones".

I think hit the nail on the head, though. It's important for all of us to remind ourselves compassion and empathy regularly, even when difficult, because as many gender theorists and feminists have taught us, some people don't adhere to social norm or convention. Understanding this is understanding that blaming a full demographic for anything is not only unfair and lazy, it also leads to the very worst in all of us.

Have a great day and stay awesome!

Heh. I actually hope you're right. I don't even believe in utopias anymore.