Recently, the boffins at the American Psychological Association (APA) proclaimed “traditional masculinity” as toxic.
With no apparent shame, here are the exact words they used: “Traits of so-called ‘traditional masculinity,’ like suppressing emotions & masking distress, often start early in life & have been linked to less willingness by boys & men to seek help, more risk-taking & aggression – possibly harming themselves & those with whom they interact.”
What makes this statement really dangerous is the mixture of ideology and ostensibly neutral expertise: a strong ideological gesture of excluding phenomena considered unacceptable is presented as an impartial description of medical facts.
How can one not recall here the notorious Serbsky institute in Moscow (thriving even now!) which, in the Soviet years, was well known for categorizing dissidence as a form of mental illness?
And exactly the same happens when we designate masculinity as “toxic,” under the cover of medical expertise. It amounts to the imposition of a new normativity, a fresh figure of the enemy.
New Normal
Indeed, if, in the old days of heterosexual normativity, homosexuality was treated as illness, it is now masculinity itself which is medicalized and turned into a sickness to be fought. Thus, all the references to power, patriarchy and oppression of women cannot obfuscate the ideological brutality of the operation.
[Abstract. Appeared in RT on January 12th 2019.]
<3 Well said. Foucault would be proud.
but the point ISN’T that “we designate masculinity as “toxic,””, the point is that stupid, harmful behaviors and traits that are unhealthy in general have been particularly associated with masculinity — hence they are something males in general are very strongly affected by. “Toxic masculinity” is to “masculinity” what “moldy bread” is to “bread”. The whole loaf might not be bad, but damned if there aren’t some nasty parts that are ruining the rest of it.
this doesn’t mean that any and all behaviors and actions that require one to process their own feelings or act on their own are pathological. sometimes we DO need to take the step forward and do that. what’s pathological are irrational PATTERNS of this kind of behavior which seep into everyday life, to a point where a man can’t even just admit that he’s deeply hurting or feeling lost or whatever, because he’s afraid that it’s ‘unmasculine’ to admit any kind of weakness or seek help. men shouldn’t feel like they HAVE to process things on their own because they’re afraid they won’t be manly if they don’t. that further treats men like their feelings and experiences don’t matter and are disposable because they’re expected to be some kind of foundational rock, rather than human beings like everyone else.