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Personally, I'm more worried about the increasingly anti-masculine culture gripping our country. As a man, I feel best and most fulfilled when I embrace my mas

Personally, I'm more worried about the increasingly anti-masculine culture gripping our country. As a man, I feel best and most fulfilled when I embrace my masculine side. Young men, especially adolescents, are shamed for doing so.

amanaplanacanal 6y ago
I'm unclear what you mean by anti-masculine and masculine side. Can you talk about that a bit more?
- deleted 6y ago
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- TheAdamAndChe 6y ago
  It's hard to describe. I have a competitive energy that drives stereotypically masculine behavior. When it was unfocused and untrained, it led to aggression and hypersexuality. When it's focused, it leads to goal- and status-oriented behavior. When I say anti-masculine, I mean that it seems like society nowadays just seems to try to suppress this energy in boys. Rambunctiousness is shamed and considered ADHD. Competitiveness is looked down upon, replaced instead with cooperation. There was a time when I tried to suppress this side of myself, but it just made me feel bad. Much of my transition to adulthood involved learning how to manage this masculine energy.
- milchek 6y ago
  Not OP, but I think what OP is referring to is the whole 'men are trash' narrative that we see in media and social media sometimes. The Gillette ad comes to mind as, to me at least, it legitimises and maybe even exaggerates how many males are toxic or have issues - to the point where a razor brand feels they need to step in and tell all men, "hey guys, be better." (could you imagine the backlash if a tampon brand did something like this to females?) Let's be critical about this, maybe those particularly toxic males are actually exhibiting tendencies that are more to do with some sort of sociopathy rather than it being their a product purely of their gender? On top of this, men are also given a lot of conflicting messaging - particularly as far as media and pop culture is concerned - on how they should behave. Couple this with the usual stats about the troubles men face and I can understand why parents are worried.

amanaplanacanal 6y ago

I'm unclear what you mean by anti-masculine and masculine side. Can you talk about that a bit more?

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
TheAdamAndChe 6y ago
It's hard to describe. I have a competitive energy that drives stereotypically masculine behavior. When it was unfocused and untrained, it led to aggression and hypersexuality. When it's focused, it leads to goal- and status-oriented behavior. When I say anti-masculine, I mean that it seems like society nowadays just seems to try to suppress this energy in boys. Rambunctiousness is shamed and considered ADHD. Competitiveness is looked down upon, replaced instead with cooperation. There was a time when I tried to suppress this side of myself, but it just made me feel bad. Much of my transition to adulthood involved learning how to manage this masculine energy.
milchek 6y ago
Not OP, but I think what OP is referring to is the whole 'men are trash' narrative that we see in media and social media sometimes. The Gillette ad comes to mind as, to me at least, it legitimises and maybe even exaggerates how many males are toxic or have issues - to the point where a razor brand feels they need to step in and tell all men, "hey guys, be better." (could you imagine the backlash if a tampon brand did something like this to females?) Let's be critical about this, maybe those particularly toxic males are actually exhibiting tendencies that are more to do with some sort of sociopathy rather than it being their a product purely of their gender? On top of this, men are also given a lot of conflicting messaging - particularly as far as media and pop culture is concerned - on how they should behave. Couple this with the usual stats about the troubles men face and I can understand why parents are worried.